Curves Ahead for Premium Denim
Rich & Skinny founder partners with Cookie Johnson to make premium jeans for curvy women.
Cookie Johnson, philanthropist and wife of basketball great Earvin “Magic” Johnson, couldn’t find jeans that fit—and not for lack of trying. “I have a curvier body. It was impossible to find the perfect fit, and that was so frustrating because I know there are many women like me,” she said. Women with fuller hips, thighs and bottoms don’t want jeans that have been produced as an afterthought, she said. Not necessarily plus-sized, these curvier women simply wanted access to the same contemporary styling and premium denim that is so readily available to their less-shapely counterparts. To remedy the situation, Johnson, who has a background in fashion, partnered with denim maven Michael Glasser to create Cj by Cookie Johnson, a premium-denim brand for curvy women.
Glasser—who founded premium-denim lines such as Rich & Skinny, Citizens of Humanity and 7 For All Mankind—is the first to admit that premium denim has ignored the curvier demographic. “People and brands like mine have completely neglected curvier women. They simply have not been at the forefront of our thinking,” he said. Premium denim’s focus, as the name of his collaboration with denim designer Joie Rucker not-so-secretly implies, has been squarely on the rich and the skinny. But no longer.
With its debut in Spring 2009, Cj entices women with styles in boot-cut, straight, boyfriend and high-waist, wide-leg silhouettes. Fall will see the introduction of gray jeans, pleated jeans and skinny legging-style jeans. Washes and colors are trend-right, with darker washes, colored denim and distressed options. Fabric and fit are key, Johnson said. Using all-stretch Japanese and European fabrics, Glasser produces the jeans in Los Angeles with the techniques and treatments he has used in his other premium lines. With sizes running from 24 through 38, Cj features design details that make it curve-friendly—namely, a raised waistband over the seat and more-forgiving cuts on thighs. Wholesale prices are on par with other premium denim lines, starting at approximately $60 and topping out at $95.
Johnson, who has been traveling around the country in support of the line, is the perfect face and inspiration for the line, Glasser said. So far, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and select specialty stores have picked up the collection, and there is the potential for overseas distribution in European and Canadian markets, he said. Glasser has high hopes for Cj. “This could be big,” he said. “I think the potential for this brand is bigger than anything I’ve ever had before.”TenState Debuts With a Focus on Bottoms
Fred Naggar wants to do one thing and do it well.
He launched TenState for Fall 2009 with premium-denim jeans and cargo pants for men and women—and that’s how he wants to keep things. “I have no ambitions or interest in expanding into other categories,” he said. “I believe I need to focus on what I’m good at, and retailers need to be able to trust that everything I do is strong. This is a bottom-driven collection, and it will remain so.”
Formerly with brands such as William Rast and Rock & Republic, where he worked in both operational and creative capacities, Naggar counts TenState as his first foray as the chief of a denim brand. “There are so many denim lines that I respect, but I always felt something was missing. Some brands were too clean, some were too ripped up. I wanted to do something with a sexy twist and the perfect fit. In my [involvement with other brands] I never had the last word. Now I do,” he said. To achieve his version of the perfect fit, Naggar enlisted five fit models—all with the same body type as his size 27 model. “I used models that were size 24 up through 32,” he said. Naggar oversaw more than 100 fittings in order to create his samples. “I invested a lot of money into the core fits. It had to be just right,” he said. The cargo pants, modeled on the same fit as the denim, make up 30 percent of TenState’s business, with three women’s fits and two men’s.
Fabrics for the line are all sourced in Japan, with women’s jeans featuring a variety of stretch fabrics and men’s jeans featuring heavy 14-ounce weights and 100 percent cotton and cotton/Lycra blends. Wholesale prices for women’s styles range from $50 to $85 for the denim and $40 to $60 for the cargos. Men’s wholesale prices range from $65 to $135 for jeans and $50 to $60 for cargo styles.
