DENIM REPORT
The All-American Approach Is Key to Reviving Post’age Denim Brand
After a three-year hiatus, the Post’age denim label is being resurrected, banking on the “Made in USA” element to take it to the top.
One line within the label that is being heavily promoted is the selvage denim line that comes from Cone Denim’s White Oak plant in Greensboro, N.C.
“The key for us is we wanted that line to be an all-American label,” said Martin Barrack, vice president of the brand, which is being cut and sewn at JS Denim in Los Angeles. “We are really going to be promoting that.”
Barrack said he decided to use selvage denim after noticing an uptick in high-end jeans made out of the denim, which has a tighter, denser weave. “Selvage denim has taken off like crazy,” Barrack said. “You go to the Fred Segal store—there are seven lines of selvage. It’s happening.”
Selvage denim has been around for more than a century, but the thicker denim later was replaced with lighter-weight denim as styles required more flexibility and thinner fabric. Selvage is woven on narrow looms and tends to have more variation in the finished fabric.
Today, the Japanese are one of the leaders in selvage denim production. The story is that when American denim mills were modernizing between 1960 and 1980, the Japanese bought a number of the old looms the American companies were selling.
A good Japanese pant made of selvage denim can cost as much as $400 in stores such as Barneys New York or Ron Herman in Los Angeles. Post’age’s selvage denim retail prices will vary from $200 to $250.
JS Denim is just rolling out the first samples of the line—geared for both men and women—that will soon be delivered to the Post’age sales staff. The jeans will come in either a straight cut or skinny cut for men and a skinny silhouette for women. There will also be a number of washes that come in blues, grays and blacks.
As part of the marketing strategy, each jean will have a booklet in the back pocket that tells the story of selvage denim. Also, the inside of the front pocket has a small explanation about how the label is made in the tradition of more than 100 years of American-made jeans with this label being “Made in Los Angeles.”
Barrack wants to see Post’age stocked in London at Selfridges, which prides itself in having one of the largest denim departments in Europe. Japan is another market being scoped out because the Post’age jeans will be priced much lower than most Japanese selvage denim jeans.
