Quality Is Key at Kingpins L.A.
Denim designers descended on the Kingpins boutique denim sourcing show in downtown Los Angeles Jan. 25–26 in search of quality and authenticity for their Fall 2012 offerings.
Shopping the show were representatives from brands such as Civilianaire, Juicy Couture, J Brand, Citizens of Humanity, Goldsign, Adriano Goldschmied, Rock & Republic, BCBG, Target and Element.
Talk on the show floor—which hosted 24 exhibitors ranging from international and domestic denim mills to jeans manufacturers, pocketing producers, piece-dye wash houses, twill producers and laundries—inevitably turned to the skyrocketing cost of cotton.
A variety of denim fabric vendors quoted average price increases of 10 percent and 15 percent, depending on the product. Paul Cavazos of Olah Inc.—which produces the Kingpins show in Los Angeles, New York and overseas—said designers have come to expect price increases and are working to mitigate their effect on their margins. “Initially, brands thought [the price increases] were a plot to swindle them by the mills,” Cavazos said. Now, a year after cotton began its climb, brands have plans in place to deal with paying nearly double for denim fabric. “Everyone is pushing price and still getting value,” he said. Simpler washes, shifts in labor and a return to clean, minimal design are all ways to soften the blow of cotton’s high prices.
Vichai Phromvanich, Absolute Denim’s managing director, said he encourages bargain-hunting brands to opt for wider fabrics. “Sometimes they can get an extra leg from just those few additional inches and the fabric isn’t that much more expensive,” he said.
Buxton Midyette of Supima, the promotional organization of the American Pima cotton growers, said designers who work with Pima cotton are definitely feeling the pinch of increased cotton prices (Pima cotton has kept pace with traditional cotton’s price increase), but few have stopped using fabrics made with the fiber. “Pima has hit a record price—a 20-year high of about $3 per pound—but [the brands that use it] are a very product-focused group. They accept that the price is what it is, but to them, quality and softness are [non-negotiable]. They’re sticking with us because they can’t risk using cheaper products. Their customer will accept a higher price but not a drop in quality,” Midyette said. That said, the fiber isn’t picking up new customers, he added.
The sobering cotton prices do seem to be inspiring Southern California’s premium-denim designers to create no-frills, super-clean, vintage-inspired jeans, vendors said.
Still, designers seeking novelty could find it on the show floor. Bangkok-based denim producer Absolute Denim showed a new rigid, 100 percent cotton denim fabric that glows in the dark after exposure to sunlight. The fabric, which emits a bluish green glow, is costlier than Absolute’s other premium-denim fabrics. “It’s just a more sophisticated product,” Phromvanich said. Also spotted on the show floor were denim fabrics with unique prints woven directly into the fabric by Super Design Denim, a Korean denim producer exhibiting at the Los Angeles Kingpins for the first time.
