For decades, the rise and fall of hemlines has been the cause of chatter among designers, sociologists and even Wall Street investors, who turned to them as an indicator of where the market was headed. The conversations tended to focus on skirts and dresses, though. It was taken pretty much as a given that the hem of a pair of pants should more or less hit at the ankle.
In the jeans business, that may be a given no longer, considering the opposite positions staked out by a pair of jeans lines rolling out this year.
In London, designer Suzy Radcliffe has launched a line of jeans — called Radcliffe — with legs that can be adjusted at home without a sewing machine or scissors, to accommodate wearers of different heights and also different heel sizes.
“I was sick of jeans where the bottoms were sagging and hems were dragging,” said Radcliffe. “I wear jeans every single day and want a pair I can wear with high heels, kitten heels or flip-flops.”
In New York, designer Robyn Webb represents the other side of the debate with her forthcoming line, called Rdoubleu.
“I like jeans that are really long, so I made them with a 35-inch inseam,” she said. “The hems will be destroyed after a few wearings. I don’t mind.”
Jeans in the superpremium Radcliffe line, which launched at retail in the U.K. last month, can be adjusted to an inseam of 31, 33 or 35 inches using cufflinks and button holes that are included and concealed inside the leg.
In an effort to simplify inventory management, many women’s jeans lines offer their fashion styles in only one inseam length, typically 32 or 33 inches, though more basic stock jeans are often available in a choice of lengths.
Radcliffe, who previously worked as a branding consultant for firms including Levi’s and Adidas, got the idea for the line four years ago and spent the intervening time perfecting the fits.
In addition to the adjustable inseams, the jeans feature false pockets to reduce bulk and messages stitched into the inner waistbands, such as “Let’s make love in London” and “It’s better to be looked over than overlooked.”
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Styles wholesale for around $100 and initially are available in a handful of London boutiques. The firm also plans to sell the jeans through its Web site, radcliffedenim.com.
Initially, the collection includes two styles, a boot-cut flare and a straight-leg, five-pocket style.
Each season, Radcliffe will add limited-edition trend-led pieces to the line, starting with colorful riding jackets and blazers in January. Radcliffe expects first-year wholesale volume to reach $1.9 million at current exchange rates. She has no plans right now to distribute the line outside the U.K.
“We had a 2,000-pair trial rollout last year at Question Air [a London specialty chain] stores and every customer that tried a pair on bought them,” said Radcliffe. “We’re not aiming at teenagers who want the latest pair of jeans and then move on.”
Meanwhile, Webb is embracing the tattered look with her Rdoubleu line, which is due to launch for fall retailing.
Webb, who until July 2004 served as designer of Honee jeans, contends that her jeans feature their own engineering breakthrough. Made with a contemporary fit, they’re slightly undersized so that women can wear them a few more times between washings without the jeans stretching out of shape, a quality Webb said she’d noticed in men’s jeans.
“With women, normally after a couple of wearings, the jeans are huge,” she said.
Initially, the Rdoubleu collection will feature one cut of jeans, a low-rise, long cut. The jeans will be available in a variety of finishes and washes, and wholesale from $60 to $80.