Blue Horizon
Denim brands roll out non-indigo alternatives
When Beth Guez saw Audrey Hepburn pirouette through The Gap’s new Skinny Black Pant ad campaign, she knew it was a compelling bellwether of market change. The iconic Hepburn, radically juxtaposed to the AC/DC soundtrack and arresting visuals, may very well exert a hypnotizing effect on the always-novelty-hungry fashion consumer.
“If there was ever an ad that’s easily understandable and relatable to the masses, that’s it,” says Guez, CEO of Blue Concepts, the incubator of Blue Holdings Inc., which owns Antik Denim, Yanuk, and other brands. “I think it’s brilliant and will be highly influential.”
“It’s also absolutely a propos for the time,” she adds, “because that’s the direction. The skinny black pant is certainly an alternative to denim—easy to wear, dress it up or down, it can be whatever you want it to be.”
Denim jeans are a basic that will never go away. But for the past several years it’s been a major trend-driver, begging the question: “What will brands that have made their name during the premium-denim explosion do for longevity?”
Category Expansion
Brands born during the denim explosion have already diversified their product offerings into tops, outerwear and non-denim bottoms, and the Spring 2007 season will see a rapid proliferation of non-indigo products. Not only will diversification buffer the brands from any waning consumer interest in fashion denim, but it will also set them on the way to grow from hip jeans brands to legitimate lifestyle-brand empires.
For Guez and Blue Holdings, jeans are essentially a commodity business. “We do reach a saturation point in manufacturing and also in the customer’s closet,” says Guez. “So we do feel there are other avenues to pursue.”
Antik is currently undergoing “not just a fabrication expansion but a category expansion,” adding tees, shirts, and jackets. Its first denim deviation was a cotton twill pant with an emphasis on black and white. Next spring, Antik will not only continue to roll out non-denim items, it will expand its denim offerings to include shorts, overalls, and dresses.
For this fall, Antik introduced a white woven shirt for $174, T-shirts with rhinestones for $121, and cardigan sweaters for $275.
The Yanuk brand will stay focused on mid-range jeans but has recently introduced “a fabulous garment-dyed twill that got a great response.”
Blue Holdings is also expanding its portfolio with several tops lines: Saith, e.Vil, and Life and Death. Overall, the company is heading in a lifestyle direction, says Guez, but is taking its time and plans to grow slowly.
Empire Building
Rock & Republic has always intended to grow into a lifestyle brand, says president Andrea Bernholtz, and now is precisely the time the brand is making its move. “For us, it’s never been just about denim, but it’s what’s been the fuel to race the car,” says Bernholtz.
This fall, the brand launched Rock & Republic Tailor Made, which consists of suits, trousers, blazers, and dresses that—no surprise—complement the denim. “You can buy a suit and then work it back to your wardrobe,” says Bernholtz. “Here’s this amazing suit that fits great, and then you can separate the pieces and wear them with denim.”
Rock & Republic is also rapidly expanding in many other directions. The brand introduced shoes last spring and handbags this fall, which are “blowing out,” says Bernholtz. For Spring 2007, it will debut Rock & Republic cosmetics and eyewear. “Everything in general is very, very sexy,” says Bernholtz.
In another strategic move for building a fashion empire, not one category will be licensed out. “All the integrity and brand image—we control all of it,” she says.
Once all categories have been released, Bernholtz is projecting non-denim items to account for 38 percent of sales in the first year. As for total company growth, which is much easier when you’re selling a range of products, “it’s hard to gauge,” says Bernholtz. “This first quarter, we were up 239 percent over last year, and that’s without releasing any of the new categories.” And this in spite of trimming its sales accounts and “becoming more selective in who we sell to.”
As for getting consumers to think of a traditional denim brand in the new light of a lifestyle brand, Bernholtz says this is simply a matter of time. Recently, the brand created a print advertising campaign that deliberately eschewed denim, focusing instead on a fur-trimmed army jacket. The ad had a tremendous response and helped people see the brand differently, Bernholtz says. “We’re not shoving it down your throat, we’re just making really cool products.”
The integrity of product—rather than just a label thrown on a piece of clothing or accessory—is one of the primary lessons Bernholtz has learned from the premium-denim craze. Consumers want novelty, but they also want quality and craftsmanship. Then there’s that intangible quality called “authenticity,” the perception that a brand has real design vision and a passion for its product.
This month, a Rock & Republic Tailor Made in-store boutique opens at Harrod’s in London, making Rock & Republic the first brand to have three stores (on three different floors) in Harrod’s. The company is also planning to open retail stores in New York, London and Los Angeles.
Natural Growth
For the past two years, Citizens of Humanity has had a knitwear collection that has done “amazing,” says owner Jerome Dahan. Now he is planning a “casual luxury sportswear” collection that will bear the Citizens of Humanity label and be “part of the collection, but treated like its own entity, and people are going to take care of it from A to Z.” The collection, which will consist of sweaters, jackets, and trousers, is tentatively scheduled for the Fall 2007 season.
“I think it’s the natural growth of a business,” says Dahan. “You have to branch into different products because you don’t want to just flood the industry with only denim. I think it’s in the creative interest of the company to branch out.
“But the main core of my business,” he adds, “what I devote my time to, my passion, is still going to be denim.”
Dahan also says that leather is “a very strong thing if you know how to do it,” and says he “maybe” is thinking about adding a leather category.
But when denim brands branch out, they need to be careful about making a great product—the strength of the brand name is not enough. “You can have a very strong name, and that’s why buyers are going to buy you, but as the owner of this company, I don’t think you should just rely on your name. I think you should always rely on product.”
Not Just Denim
Jana Rangel, U.S. sales director for True Religion, says branching out is both necessary as a defense against changes in the marketplace, and as an offense to grow the company. “It’s both. It’s the need and the desire to grow your brand from just a denim category.”
Yet Rangel believes that the defensive need is less if a denim brand is well established. “For those of us who have strong denim brands, there won’t be a denim bubble that bursts, as long as we’re keeping it fresh and being innovative with our washes and sourcing amazing denim fabric. You can basically just keep reinventing denim over and over again.”
The True Religion brand launched with a strong corduroy collection, she says, later adding velvet and twill bottoms. “What we’re doing now is just being more meaningful in those categories.” For Spring 2007, True Religion will introduce a cotton/canvas/linen-blend pant in three lengths, plus blazers and skirts in the same fabric. “We’re really beefing up the categories of non-denim fabrications. The customers embrace it very warmheartedly when they see that part of the collection.”
Holiday 2006 will see the first wave of expansion, with a True Religion suiting group. The brand is currently developing licensing deals to introduce outerwear, footwear, and headwear with a target date of Fall 2007. “Expansion is always in our foresight,” says Rangel.
New Construction
Smaller brands are also seizing this time in the fashion cycle to diversify product offerings. At the Coterie trade show in January 2007, Kasil will unveil new items for the fall season. “We’re trying to move ahead and be more innovative on designs,” says founder David Lim. “I’m starting to gear my designs more on the tailored look, higher in construction.”
Lim, whose father Richard is a well-known custom tailor, will introduce women’s blazers made of dyed herringbone cotton with fashion detailing and priced in the $200–$300 range. Other planned items include men’s T-shirts in a cotton/bamboo blend, and men’s and women’s five-pocket-style corduroy pants in earth tones.
As for offering other items in denim, Lim says it doesn’t make sense: Since jeans are so common, few people want a denim jacket because they don’t want to dress in denim head to toe. “I don’t want to have a collection where you wear a denim jacket and pants. I’d rather see something mix and match.”
But he’s considering adding denim onesies, “something that’s a little sexier than your basic overall.”
Lim has also learned that denim brands can’t treat all fabrics the same. “You have to think away from denim, because not every fabric reacts the way denim does,” he says. “You always want to say, ’Let’s try washing it, let’s try destroying it.’”
In addition to expanding into different fabrications, Lim is also working on using denim in ways traditionally associated with other fabrics. He is currently developing a women’s pant using a lightweight denim that functions like cotton twill, more flowing and with a strong crease in the front. “We’re taking denim and treating it like a nice suit trouser. We want to bring those constructions into denim.”
Business Savvy
On the contrary, Agave founder Jeff Shafer suggests it is time to diversify because the creative potential of denim bottoms has been exhausted.“Our part of the industry is really responsive to innovation,” he says. “Denim has been pushed pretty hard and far pretty fast. Beyond adding a third leg, the consumer has pretty much seen everything that can be done. The market’s evolved very fast. If people come up with really creative ways of making a great jean, there’s still room for them. But it’s not as easy as it once was.”
The race to perfect wash and fit that helped drive the denim craze will now be translated to other fabrics. “As a premium denim maker, I’m not going to use any old cord. I’m going to use the finest cord I can find, hopefully something that’s better than anything out there.”
For men’s corduroy pants, Shafer’s source is “a small Italian mill that makes the most beautiful fabric.” And whether he’s making wovens, knits, or non-indigo bottoms, “It’s all about finding the most beautiful, most luxurious, softest textiles, regardless of price.”
This fall, Agave debuted cotton moleskin five-pocket pants. Next spring it will bring out five-pockets in a blend of organic cotton and bamboo, plus tops of organic Supima cotton “with the most exquisite hand, beautiful drape, and beautiful color.”
Shafer says that unlike most people in the business, he is both a designer and a businessman (he holds an MBA), and wears both these hats. “I’m going into other categories because I know denim is saturated and there’s going to be opportunities in other areas,” he says. “But when I take that hat off, I say, ’Look at the opportunity for expanding the whole concept of premium, pouring that DNA into other categories. One is reactive and one is visionary.”