With the original jeans generation, now aged 60-years-plus continuing to wear their badge of denim youthfulness, manufacturers have to innovate to keep the market fresh and increase consumer interest. Denim and jeanswear brands need to innovate and fight to convince the young that denim is still cool, even though their parents are still wearing it. The marketing of jeans now incorporates concepts such as, authenticity, music, celebrity endorsement and product placement.
Since World War II the distribution of jeanswear on a global basis has changed, consumers have come to associate price, quality and reliability of apparel merchandise with the retailer rather than the manufacturer. Mass market distribution has (and continues) to grow at the expense of the independent retailer, this also effects the manufacturer. Numerous retailers are now stocking own-label products; with some likely to stock brands too. For example a department store will definitely stock branded jeans and will probably have its own label, whereas multiple chains are unlikely to stock branded jeans and will definitely have their own label.
At the end of the 1950s, jeans ceased to be work clothing and became an iconic fashion statement, mainly due to the pop music influence of the 1960s. Since this time there have only been three (truly) global brand names Levi Strauss, Lee and Wrangler (all American). The last two are owned by the US clothing conglomerate VF Corporation. Within the third edition of just-styles ‘Global market review of the denim and jeanswear industries – forecasts to 2014’ there is an exclusive interview with newly appointed president of VF Asia-Pacific, Aidan O’Meara. In this interview just-style discusses the impact on sourcing and selling and the importance this has for a global jeans brand.
The latest report from just-style includes over 90 pages of primary and secondary research into the global denim and jeanswear markets. The report concentrates on the battle to convince the developing market consumer - why they should wear jeans and whose jeans they should wear. With an introduction to the industries the report soon moves on to looking at the total jeans market with forecasts for region, units, consumption and price until 2014. Other elements that are covered within this report include brands and their price points, how these brands position themselves, strategic alliances as part of the supply chain and the macroeconomics of the global jeanswear market.
The full just-style report ‘Global market review of denim and jeanswear industries - forecasts to 2014’ is available for purchase from just-style online research store at http://www.just-
