California Apparel News

Before Ed Noble got his start in the apparel business, he didn’t know that much about women’s blue jeans. But he knew what makes a woman look good.

He was on one of his daily seaside jaunts several years ago along the sandy shores of Newport Beach, Calif., when he noticed that many of the fit women walking ahead looked pretty good in a pair of pants, but they could look better. “Most women, when their pants are tight, their fannies look flat,” he said. “I thought, ’Why don’t I do something about that?’”

So Noble, who has a background in advertising and a flair for inventing things, went to a Sears store and plunked down $100 for a sewing machine. He then set out to redesign many of his wife’s gym shorts. Through much trial and error and with some help from his cleaning lady’s mother-in-law, who knew how to sew, he came up with a drawstring-and-waistband approach that helped lift a woman’s derriere.

With that, he and his wife, Rhonda, decided to send away for three patents for his idea before taking the concept to Ora-Zoeuml;, a designer in the California Market Center, to develop further.

The next step was to find someone who wanted to license this concept, now called the D’fine system. Through Michael Radochey, a business contact, Noble hooked up with the Jolna Design Group, which liked that his idea could distinguish their denim line from others out there. Soon, brothers Kerry and Steven Jolna, whose previous denim labels include Bella Dahl and Jefri Jeans, had a 20-year license for the D’fine system.

In February, the Jolnas debuted the D’fine system as part of their Purecolor denim collection. The pants, which wholesale for $64, are being delivered to stores such as Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus, starting at the end of July.

“It’s like buying a custom jean,” said Kerry Jolna, chief executive officer of the Jolna Design Group, which is based in Tarzana, Calif. “We have put together a denim line that is the best in the marketplace. It has fabric, fit and fashion.”

Jolna notes the company is using high-end denim with four-way stretch from Europe and Japan to make the jeans in the United States. The drawstring in the front can be pulled to hike up the pants to define the back of the pant. “It’s the only jean where you can refresh the fit throughout the day,” he said, noting that many jeans stretch out as they are worn over several hours.

While the whole system sounds a bit uncomfortable, Jolna maintains that after testing it with several focus groups, the stretch fabric and the patented system make the blue jeans comfortable. “We know this is something people are going to wear,” Kerry said.