Do Too Many Jeans Spoil the Retailer?
Sept. 26 -- Whiskered. Flared. Boot-cut. Faded. Vintage. Low-rise. Dangerously low. Offensively low.
There's just no end to the variety of jeans for sale on retailers' shelves this fall. Always a casual wear staple, jeans are now the accessory of the moment, with fashionable brands influencing trends on both the high and discount ends of the retail spectrum.
Retailers this year have increased their denim presence to about 15 percent of their total fall assortment, up from around 12 percent last year. And many specialty stores are focusing on denim as their merchandising priority, according to a recent survey from investment bank UBS Warburg.
But some analysts worry the denim craze could be too much of a good thing, and caution an overemphasis could force many retailers to discount aggressively in order to move products off the shelves.
"I'm very concerned that the supply far exceeds the demand from the consumer for denim," says Marshal Cohen, co-president of NPDFashionworld, a market-research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. "On Aug. 15, when I was in the malls, jeans were already on sale. That's a problem."
New Styles Sow Sales
Jeans are traditionally solid sellers in the United States, but denim does have cycles based on hot trends and new developments in fit or fabric.
What's driving the current craze is a wave of better-fitting jeans and a variety of different washes and styles inspired by countless higher-end fashion brands — such as Seven, Miss Sixty, Diesel and Earl Jean — that have made their way into the mainstream market.
"It's been getting more competitive over the last five years," says Levi's spokesman Jeff Beckman. "Five or 10 years ago, there were a handful of major brands that we competed with. As you look across the landscape today, there are hundreds of new brands and dozens of potential competitors."
Now details like low-rise waists, flared legs, stretch fabrics, different color options (such as "antique" washes) and "whiskers" — those faded horizontal marks that appear after jeans have been worn and washed for over a long time — can be found anywhere from once-traditional brands like Levi's to retailers like Wal-Mart and the Gap.
