The standouts of the holiday season were clearly the Internet and gift cards, with online merchants exceeding sales growth projections by more than 20 percent in many cases. Here are the women’s wear and jeanswear brands with the greatest number of Web searches in November, according to the online marketing firm Stylophane.
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Women’s Wear Brands
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- Nike
Nov. ’04 Searches: 289,361
Change: 3.4 percent above October’s 279,787
Whether searching for jobs or running shoes (or perhaps details about founder Phil Knight’s upcoming retirement), consumers searched for Nike more often than for any other apparel brand on the ’Net. - Ugg Boot
Nov. ’04 Searches: 244,804
Change: 77.5 percent above October’s 137,881
Ugg Australia soared to household-name status last year with its shearling boots. To take advantage of its strong brand recognition, Ugg brought other categories to retail this fall including handbags and outerwear. - The North Face
Nov. ’04 Searches: 179,183
Change: 43.1 percent above October’s 125,206
Of the 10 women’s wear brands covered here, few saw a bigger rise in the number of Web searches than VF Corp.’s North Face unit — and that was before the really cold weather arrived. - Adidas
Nov. ’04 Searches: 169,536
Change: 9.1 percent above October’s 155,423
North Face might have leapfrogged over it, but Adidas continues to be the target of thousands of searches each month. Its Y-3 collection by Yohji Yamamoto has helped bolster consumer curiosity. - Baby Phat
Nov. ’04 Searches: 153,114
Changes: 29.6 percent above October’s 118,145
Kimora Lee Simmons’ urban chic apparel collection has evolved into a full lifestyle brand. In the last three months, Simmons introduced a cell phone, inked a deal with Vida Shoes t and launched a jewelry collection. - New Balance
Nov. ’04 Searches: 144,840
Change: 15.7 percent above October’s 125,202
New Balance may be known mainly for athletic footwear, but it has revealed plans to make a more aggressive push into women’s activewear with more collections and edgier designs. - Juicy Couture
Nov. ’04 Searches: 128,255
Change: 12.6 percent above October’s 113,889
The eight-year-old collection started with velour tracksuits and now covers everything from cashmere sweaters and fur coats to a full denim collection and men’s and children’s wear.. The Liz Claiborne unit also has a Las Vegas store. - Ralph Lauren
Nov. ’04 Searches: 111,355
Change: 15 percent above October’s 96,804
Ralph Lauren’s Polo.com site opens the door to RLhome.polo.com, RLrestaurant.com and Polo.com magazine portals. The world of Lauren expanded this fall with the freestanding retail format called Rugby. - Guess
Nov. ’04 Searches: 90,071
Change: 16.9 percent above October’s 77,041
The top-ranked jeanswear brand on the list, Guess offers options at its Web site for the offline and online shopper, as well as for investors and just gawkers who appreciate great-looking male and female models. - Puma
Nov. ’04 Searches: 89,495
Change: 9.8 percent below October’s 99,262
Puma is now pushing more into the fashion arena with a larger collection of streetwear offerings. The company is also developing its collaborative lines with Neil Barrett, Christy Turlington and Philippe Starck.
Jeanswear Brands
- Guess
Nov. ’04 Searches: 90,071
Change: 16.9 percent above October’s 77,041
Guess now does most of its sales volume in its own retail stores, a physical presence that is reflected in the popularity of its Web site, which also promotes the upscale Marciano collection. - Levi’s
Nov. ’04 Searches: 86,424
Change: 10.5 percent above October’s 78,204
After a century and a half in business, Levi’s has the kind of international name recognition that isn’t easily reversed by difficult sales performance and heavy debt, and its growing number of Web searches reflects that. - Diesel
Nov. ’04 Searches: 84,295
Change: 14 percent below October’s 98,011
The Diesel Web site presents the brand’s jeanswear collection as a Kerouac-style road trip. Enter “Diesel Jeans” in Google and stand back — nearly two million results will be returned. - Seven Jeans
Nov. ’04 Searches: 51,171
Change: 5.5 percent above October’s 48,513
Name confusion over Seven For All Mankind, Seven Jeans and Seven7 might account for part of the high volume of searches dedicated to this hot and highly contested jeanswear identity. - Von Dutch
Nov. ’04 Searches: 48,253
Change: 6.8 percent below October’s 51,750
Since its launch in 2002, Von Dutch Originals has become one of the hottest brands around. The brand now includes not just women’s and men’s wear, but also everything from kids’ wear to accessories. - Citizens of Humanity
Nov. ’04 Searches: 43,605
Change: 4.2 percent above October’s 41,845
It’s been a tumultuous year for the premium denim brand, with a split between founders Jerome Dahan and Michael Glasser. Dahan now is looking at expanding via licensing, and sales this year are expected to top $65 million. - Apple Bottoms
Nov. ’04 Searches: 35,933
Change: 2.6 percent below October’s 41,128
Rapper Nelly clearly has hit the mark with his Apple Bottoms collection, which was relaunched for spring and aims to produce a superior fit for women with lush figures. Styles range from tracksuit-based groupings to denim. - Lucky Jeans
Nov. ’04 Searches: 23,176
Change: 14 percent above October’s 20,334
The Web site, Luckybrandjeans.com, imparts the message that Lucky is all about “America, youth and courage” — and also enumerates the things that Lucky is not about. - Miss Sixty
Nov. ’04 Searches: 19,607
Change: 2 percent below October’s 20,010
The Italian denim brand operates stores in 23 countries including the U.S., where it has nine units in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Washington. It now has sales of more than $750 million worldwide. - Evisu
Nov. ’04 Searches: 18,521
Change: 47.3 percent above October’s 12,577
For those who feel prosperous, Evisu’s official Web site links shoppers to pages where they can go for the $325 Fired Selvedge Jean from the Japanese brand. Based on the search volume, that approach appears to be working.
Source: Stylophane, from results reported by various search engines. Searches consist of those conducted in November 2004 and are compared with those of the previous month. Companies that don’t produce men’s wear have been omitted, but full results are available at Stylophane.com.