Levi's Enters Growing Tummy-Flattering Denim Market
When Not Your Daughter’s Jeans debuted its Tummy Tuck line of jeans with reinforced belly panels for the over-40 set in 2005, the company’s sales hit $7 million in the first year. And, despite focusing on a very narrow denim niche, Not Your Daughter’s Jeans expected to reach sales of $40 million in 2006. So it was only a matter of time before other brands showed an interest in figure-flattering denim for women generally overlooked by denim designers. George Rudes, general manager of Los Angeles–based Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, said he has seen some denim with similar concepts in mass-market retailers being sold for as little as $29.
Now, denim giant Levi Strauss is debuting a new style, Perfectly Slimming 512, for women looking to hide a few inches around their midsection. Designed with a mix of cotton and spandex and a “proprietary design” to flatten the wearer’s belly, the new denim will debut nationwide for Spring 2007 with regular, petite and plus sizes for women.
Rudes, who said his company has “legally protected” its tummy-tuck design, isn’t worried about the new competition. “It’s not the same market, and the design is not like ours. Levi’s goes to a market that we don’t sell,” he said. Levi’s version retails for $40. Tummy Tuck jeans offers more than 20 different styles that retail from $88 to $120.
Other brands, including Commerce, Calif.–based Thin Her Jeans by Nancy Bolen and Canada’s FDJ French Dressing, offer waist-whittling styles.
Not Your Daughter’s Jeans—which sells to Nordstrom, Macy’s, Lord & Taylor and Dillard’s as well as 1,000 specialty stores around the country—keeps an eye on the emerging competition. “There are brands trying to emulate us, but they don’t produce the same quality garment,” said Rudes, who runs the company with his daughter, Lisa Rudes Sandell, who is the company’s president. “We are American-made, and consumers are becoming more conscious as to where their garments are made,” he continued.
Rudes said part of the company’s strategy is to outpace the competition by offering alternative lengths and fashion silhouettes. Embellished pockets and a range of washes and fabrications help the brand keep up with trends.
In 2007, Not Your Daughter’s Jeans plans to test its offerings on a global scale by signing distribution deals in Europe, Canada and Australia. The company, which recently hired Los Angeles manufacturing veteran Ron Perilman as its executive vice president of sales and tripled the size of its headquarters in 2006, is also planning a major ad campaign rollout for the new year, focusing on newspapers and magazines that target the brand’s core demographic such as More magazine and the American Association for Retired People’s AARP magazine. Rudes expects Not Your Daughter’s Jeans to reach sales of $55 million in 2007.
—Erin Barajas
