NEW YORK — The denim category continues to play host to a number of players and, as the game heats up, the consumer continues to come out on top. This fall is no exception.
As more brands enter the category, the variety of silhouettes swells. Long, voluminous skirts simultaneously hang with tight, stretch minis; slouchy boyfriend-style jeans hang next to sleek cigarette styles, and ragged distressed jeans share shelf space with tailored, trouser-style jeans.
“There are so many players in the denim arena right now that they can’t all come up with the same product,” said Terence Bogan, vice president of women’s apparel at Barneys Co-op. “There is such a wide range of consumers — tall, short, skinny, larger-sized — that you don’t want to alienate a particular size. You have to accommodate a wide range of ages and body types.”
Consumers at Henri Bendel can expect a heavily edited selection of denim. “There is an abundance of trends, but we do not buy into all of them,” said Scott Tepper, fashion director and divisional merchandise manager for accessories, apparel and lingerie. “Some of the newer lines aren’t offering something new in the way of trends; they’re just going after trends that already exist. In the premium denim market, that doesn’t work,” he said. For fall, Henri Bendel is focusing on cleaner styles and darker washes. “The destroyed washes are less important to us,” he said.
At Bloomingdale’s, Kal Ruttenstein, senior vice president of fashion direction, said he trusts the consumer to lead him through the fall season. “It’s definitely our job to edit it down, but the customer will tell us which direction she’s going in, and our reorders will round out the selection,” he said. “Denim is a 12-month commodity. We’ve been testing styles to see if they’ll sell, but we don’t have a clear feeling as to the major trends for fall, so we’ll offer a variety.”
Smaller boutiques are taking the same approach and stocking their stores with a varied, but well-edited array of denim. At Atrium, a contemporary boutique here, women’s wear buyer Christine Lee has the task of buying for edgy, downtown girls and more conservative Upper East Side mothers. “We have to merchandise our floor so that every customer sees everything,” she said. “Denim is such a staple now that it’s infiltrated every aspect of the fashion business. It addresses, and touches upon, all parts of the women’s wear market. People are buying all looks at every price level.” At Atrium, Lee tends to offer the best looks in each trend.
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“I think the only way for any denim company to survive in this realm is to do one thing and to do it really well,” she said. “You have to have a point of view and catch attention to even get your foot in the door.”
The ante, it seems, has been upped. “These days, a good fit, fabric and wash are almost a given,” she said.