Joe’s Jeans Teams Up With Macy’s for Exclusive Label, Else
Joe’s Jeans is known for its premium blue jeans with an average retail price of $170.
But the Los Angeles apparel company has joined forces with Macy’s to supply the department-store chain with an exclusive label that sells for only $68 and is targeted to the 18- to 25-year-old woman on a budget.
The new label, called Else, is being designed by Joe Dahan, the creative director of Joe’s Jeans, and made in China. The pant comes in five silhouettes: skinny, boot cut, cropped, boyfriend and a cuffed short.
“We saw there was a space at Macy’s to roll out a premium denim–like product,” said Marc Crossman, president and chief executive of Joe’s Jeans. The new label helps Joe’s Jeans get into more Macy’s doors because only about 100 stores in the chain stock premium denim.
The Else label will be shipped to 140 of the 260 Macy’s stores that have Impulse departments, which sell moderately priced contemporary labels.
“We put in fixtures so the label has its own identity,” Crossman said. “We bought signage, fixtures and mannequins.”
The company made no predictions on how much revenue the new label would generate. “It’s wide open,” Crossman said.
On Feb. 28, Joe’s Jeans released its fourth-quarter results for the period ending Nov. 30, 2011.
The company had a net loss of $268,000, compared with a profit of $817,000 in the same period a year earlier. The loss was due primarily to a $1.8 million increase in advertising and professional fees. Net sales for the quarter were $25.4 million, an 8 percent bump from a year ago, when they were $23.6 million.
Net sales for the company’s retail stores increased 44 percent to $5.9 million, compared with $4.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2010. By the end of fiscal 2011, Joe’s Jeans had 22 stores, a five-store increase from a year earlier.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the company opened a flagship store in New York, investing $200,000 to set it up.
With same-store sales up 12 percent in the fourth quarter, the company plans to speed up its retail rollout. Plans right now call for 10 new stores this year with a footprint of 1,500 square feet each.
Net sales in the fourth quarter for the company’s wholesale segment were basically flat at $19.5 million. Men’s and international sales experienced growth while women’s sales decreased.—Deborah Belgum
