CHICAGO — Trendy teens living in the affluent North Shore suburbs need not drive downtown for the latest looks in denim.
Instead, they head in droves to E Street Denim, a 12,400-square-foot denim emporium in Highland Park, to peruse more than 40 brands of jeans, as well as tanks and Ts from Feelgood and Splendid.
Owner Thomas George said he keeps his teen clientele captivated by focusing on sophisticated, celebrity-driven fashions rather than age. “Kids are wearing what their moms wear,” he said. “We really don’t address it as buying a junior product. As soon as they can be older, they’re there. I see a lot of teens shopping over their age.”
Take teenagers’ new attraction to Paige Premium Denim, a line initially marketed to their mothers.
“Eighteen months ago, Paige didn’t exist,” George said. But all it takes is the right stylish girl, a queen bee of sorts, to don the denim and others follow suit.
And although the denim market is said to be softening, George said that has not greatly affected business. Jeans, after all, remain the mainstay of a teen’s wardrobe.
E Street Denim, however, has reduced the number of denim brands it carries from a high of 84 vendors down to 45. “We may take it to 35 to make room for new lines,” he said.
George also must respond when a popular line trickles down too far. Juicy Couture, initially targeted to women, for example, caught on with teenagers, but once it reached teens, college students avoided the label, and once it reached tweens, high schoolers discarded it, as well. E Street Denim continues to stock Juicy items, but Feelgood, a new, more basic line of hoodies, tanks and lounge pants, is now its bestseller.
With Feelgood’s tanks ranging in price from $29 to $32, the price point works for most teens’ budgets, a key factor, George said.
“We have a long and broad price range,” which is met with approval by teens and their parents alike, he said.
In turn, E Street carries jeans from Lucky Brand, J Brand, Habitual, AG, Big Star, Citizens of Humanity and Seven For All Mankind, ranging in price from $48 to $300, with the average denim costing $150 to $180, he said.
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“They can try the expensive jeans,” said George, who notes that he employs at least 20 sales associates to work the weekends when most teens shop, “but some of them do have a budget.”
As those teen shoppers and their clothing allowances grow, George continues to see them during college break, after graduation and even when they marry, have their own children and move back to the area.
“The North Shore is so family-driven,” he said. “We kind of follow people through life. We were part of their high school years and we continue to have that bond.”