Denim: Skinny Jeans, Major Sales

There's a top article today in WWD about how skinny jeans have created a new denim surge, at least in major cities. The change from the traditional bootcut jean to a long, lean, narrow silhouette has prompted a new bump in denim sales, with dark indigo or black-based washes leading the fray, along with clean, non-distressed styling. Brands cited as being the vanguard in the trend are: Sass & Bide's Frayed Misfits style and Superfine, as well as Earnest Sewn, Habitual, J Brand, Acne, Taverniti So and the usual suspects (Seven, Joe's, etc.) The trend meets some resistance outside of major cities, but in places as diverse as Los Angeles and Paris, the skinny jean is in, with Paris hot for black and white denim. Some boutiques reported having to ease their customers first into straight legs before going skinny (which I found inexplicably funny, imagining all these cowering would-be customers recoiling from skinny jeans with some sales person slowly approaching them with a pair of jeans, going "It's okay, these are only straight legs, they won't hurt...")

So it looks like for now that the skinny jeans trend is making its mark in the premium denim arena, enough so that sales have picked up overall. But does it have legs? Are skinny jeans a 'blue states' thing? Suburban areas report slow sales, and even though trends take fire in urban areas, there's only so long before the market cools again and suburban sales keep things steady - if a trend takes fire there.

Posted by Kat in Denim
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