Sunday , April 6, 2008
Eco-Love: Good Society Jeans
I first fell for Good Society because their jeans reminded me so much of my beloved A.P.C. jeans: a gorgeously dark indigo wash, plain unadorned pockets, no-frills styling elevated by an attention to line and detail. And their back pockets sat low on the seat, a flattering feature that gives the effect of cool, nonchalant slouchiness without actual, flattery-warping slouchiness. (Katayone Adeli trousers used to do this back in the day with their back pockets, and they were the best pants I've ever worn.) Good Society makes jeans for dudes and ladies and is masterminded by Slings and Stones founder Aidan Dinh, who was looking to create a denim line at a more moderate price point than the super-luxe Slings and Stones label. Like its older sister label, Good Society is highly ethical: it's made from fair trade labor in India and made of organic cotton, and 10% of the profits are allocated for various charitable causes. So it's goodness all around, all while looking good. And who can argue with that? Available at various online shops, including Tobi, which carries the awesome slim leg style.
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by Katin Eco-Fashion
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Friday , June 22, 2007
Denim: Sling and Stones Once we get better pictures, we'll post them, but FYI, Sling and Stones will be available through the following retailers in late August/early September: New York: Bergdorf Goodman, Jeffrey's New York, What Comes Around Goes Around, Kaight, Armoire (Brooklyn), BOC (491 Columbus Ave) Los Angeles: Nordstroms (Pacific Palisades), Kate Daniels (Seal Beach), Sidewalks (Laguna Beach), Switch (Beverly Hills), Satine (L.A.), Stacey Todd (Studio City)
Things kind of got over-saturated there in the premium denim market for a moment, but when Sling and Stones crossed our radar, our tired ears perked up: the relatively new denim line is sustainable and ethically-produced, which always makes us happy. The denim itself looks pretty cool, with unique details like square 24k gold-plated buttons (instead of the usual round ones) and a non-traditional yoke in the back. The cloth is organic Japanese supima denim, the cuts are modern and au courant, they're using certified fair trade labor whenever possible, and the company is donating a percentage of its profits to educational, cultural and ecological initiatives that benefit the communities in which the jeans are manufactured. Good denim with a good conscience: that's always stylish, don't you think?
Online: Selfedge.com, Denimbaronline.com, Shopbop.com, Revolveclothing.com
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by Katin Denim
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Wednesday , June 13, 2007
Kate Moss Watch: A Flare Up? For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for love or for hate: we're Kate Moss watchers. So of course we've been totally interested in how she's been spotted out of her skinny jeans lately, sporting a pair of flares at parties, rock festivals and just out and about in London. (The photo below is of the mighty Moss leaving the Topshop offices.) So are we going to see the resurgence of flares along with the wide-legged jeans that are starting to pop up everywhere? Are you sick already of the seesawing? Are you even wearing jeans anymore?
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by Katin Denim
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Thursday , March 30, 2006
Denim Blogs! Let's just make it a denimcentric day, shall we? Just wanted to point out two particularly good denim blogs: denimnews.blogspot.com, which many of you know and which is written by Henry Wong, who actually works in the industry. And there is also the super-stylish Denimology. Check them out!
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by Katin Denim
| Permalink | Stumble This! | Digg This! | 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.
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by Katin Denim
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Thursday , May 26, 2005
Denim: Lists and Numbers Some factoids for those who love to keep track of random trivia...who knows? It might just show up at some hipster trivia night. According to today's WWD, these are the top women's denim brands overall for 2005: The Top Leading Women's Jean Brands, 2005 1. Levi's* *Levi's includes all Levi's and Levi Strauss signature products. However, also according to WWD, the most Internet-searched denim brands are: 1. Guess? Source: Stylophane, an e-commerce solutions company based in San Francisco
2. Gap
3. Old Navy
4. L.E.I.
5. Tommy Hilfiger
6. Mudd
7. American Eagle
8. Gloria Vanderbilt
9. Lee
10. Abercrombie & Fitch
Source: NPD Group
2. Diesel
3. Levi's
4. Seven (not sure if this refers to Seven for all Mankind or Seven7)
5. Apple Bottoms (Nelly's denim brand)
6. Von Dutch
7. Citizens of Humanity
8. Miss Sixty
9. Lucky Jeans
10. True Religion
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by Katin Denim
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Wednesday , May 25, 2005
The Ballad of Earl Jean: Where Did All the 44s Go? Considering the maturity of the premium denim market and the sheer breadth of offerings out there, it's highly ironic that I still managed to have a hard time last month finding a new pair of jeans to buy to replace a few that had simply just fallen apart. Maybe it was because I was out of practice (shopping being the new extreme sport, I suppose, and not having bought a pair of jeans for over two years), or maybe it was because I'm extremely picky: no distinctive stitching on the back pocket, no crazy distressing, absolutely no super low-rise and nothing super-tight. You know, just a plain basic jean that was both comfortable and flattering. I tried on a million things that never quite clicked, aesthetically speaking. But it was when I was cleaning out my closet when I came across an old pair of Earl 44s. They were old and faded, but still had an amazing fit and feel, and of all the jeans in my closet, had managed to retain the same sense of stretch and shape as when I first got them. Of course! It was so obvious; sometimes you have to go back to the beginning to go forward, and I was off to find a new pair. If anyone ever writes a cultural history of the designer jean, there will be a chapter devoted to Earl Jean. Before there was Seven, Citizens, Paper or Rogan, there was Earl Jean, whose style #44 was one of the original cult jeans that headed up the most recent denim boom for low-rise stretch denim bootcut jeans. Any article you read on the starlet du jour back then had a mention of her wearing Earls (along with how she wasn't wearing any makeup but looked stunning and yes, she was a total geek in high school but look at her now, blah blah blah.) But where is the Earl 44 these days? There were really nowhere to be found on any of the major online retailers, and a scouring of department stores showed that they had disappeared from that arena as well. There are a very few online stores that still sell it, but for the most part the jean has faded into the background of a very crowded stage. So it was with great irony to read an article about how bursting the denim market is just when some of its original vanguards, falling to the vagaries of business, mergers and competition, have faded from the scene. Style so often gets isolated into discussions of aesthetics and influences, but it's so closely tied to business cycles and their effects on distribution: at one point the denim market will glut, smaller companies will fail, larger ones will get unwieldy and then sold to some lame high bidder, and there go your favorite jeans. What's the lesson in all this, besides learn how to be a fashion Buddhist and practice non-attachment? Well, first of all, hoard: you never know when companies go out of business, change structure, whatever. And secondly, there's always Ebay.
I was reading yesterday how financial analysts predict a huge glut of denim in the fall, especially at the midpoint price point level, i.e. Gap, American Eagle, Express. Designer denim companies are also ramping up their offerings, and there looks to be no end to new brands launching, working up a hot streak and then fading away. I know this comes as good news to all the denim cultists out there, even though it's exhausting to keep track of all the names, stitching, finishes, and details: there should be a high-quality trendy jean for any budget at this point.
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by Katin Denim
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Monday , May 23, 2005
Meltin' Pot Meltin' Pot denim:
Ubiquitous they are now.
Should Diesel beware?
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by Katin Denim
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Tuesday , February 22, 2005
Loomstate Jeans: Where "Sexy" and "Organic" Are Not Mutually Exclusive Words I had sort of put a moratorium on my personal interest in denim (because there are just too many labels to keep up with!) But a few people have sent me info on Loomstate, so I checked out their lovely, lovely website and, intrigued, went off to try some of their jeans on. Run by the same folks at Rogan Jeans, Loomstate uses 100% organic cotton and possesses the same sexy workmanlike aesthetic and artisanal details (cool fabric lined pockets, vertical stitching) that made Rogan so urgently hot. Loomstate jeans are slightly cheaper than Rogans and I find they fit women a little better (although it still helps, apparently, to be tall and lanky, which I am so not.) And that 100% organic cotton itself? Wonderful-feeling. As Loomstate's website says, "People who give a shit are sexy."
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by Katin Denim
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Thursday , December 9, 2004
The Denim Report It's been awhile since we wrote about jeans, partly because I hit serious denim fatigue and partly because I stopped buying new jeans about a year and a half ago. But WWD today has got tons of info about retailers, designers and their denim plans, which should make the jeans fanatics out there plenty happy. Some tidbits: Wash types are fragmented, with consumers looking for a more personalized appearance. As a result, Frankel said, the wash story will likely be bipolar for 2005: “There are two styles that are very important: The clean look and the distressed look.” He said he expects cropped jeans and Caribbean colors to be a driver for spring. Seven For All Mankind plans to focus on white jeans for spring, demand for which Crane said “has exploded for us.” For fall, the company expects trouser-cut pants, styled more like dress pants than traditional five-pocket jeans, to be important. The company’s planning to roll out a new, high-waisted style called the “Jagger.”
Jeans vendors continue to focus on color and wash. More brands are preparing to roll out superskinny legs.
Also: look for denim lines aimed at the older customer (what, they don't like dirty denim and super low-riding fits?)
It's all so overwhelming that I'm going to stick to my perfectly plain Earls and A.P.C. jeans. (I do confess that I still have a liking for a dark pair of Sevens that are totally falling apart now.)
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by Katin Denim
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