AMSTERDAM — Premium jeans marketers, their suppliers and their customers are moving to new strategies as the pressure from fast-fashion retailers and lower-priced alternatives to upscale denim become more prevalent.
This was among the areas of focus at the second European edition of the Kingpins show, held last month at the Westergasfabriek-Gashouder in Amsterdam. Buyers and sellers are struggling not only with fast-fashion specialty stores selling jeans for as low as 5.99 euros, or about $8 at current exchange, but also with retailers trying to take a piece of the selvage market with prices such as 49 euros, or about $66, often piecing goods from the same mills as those used by premium resources that would ordinarily sell them for three times as much, and with more ample margins.
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Butcher of Blue, an Amsterdam-based multibrand denim retailer, is expanding its assortment to include its own line of premium denim under the Butcher Jeans label. Owner Bob Rijnders said, “I am here sourcing for innovative washes. When it becomes a price issue for my customer, I have to tell the story of how the jeans are made.”
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His jeans typically retail from 159.95 to 199.95 euros, or $216 to $270.
James Veenhoff, founder of House of Denim and one of the forces behind Amsterdam’s Denim Days initiative that includes the Kingpins show, said, “It’s about story-doing and not just about storytelling. By buying something, the customer is endorsing a brand because of the craftsmanship of the mill and not just the fashion label. Why are these jeans worth 199 euros? You don’t know until you educate the person buying it.”
Sam Cruden, denim designer for Rotterdam-based C. Cruden, is known for her combinations of leather and denim in jeans. Cruden is adapting more of a direct-to-consumer approach to her jeans sales.
“I see that the retail business is over, and I have to do sales in a more intimate setting directly to the consumer,” she told WWD. “We decided to personalize the shopping experience because this is the only way women realize and understand what we are doing.”
She has directed her sales effort at her shop in Rotterdam and trunk shows.
Italy’s Industria Tessile del Vomano (ITV) featured recycled denim with antibacterial materials embedded in the fibers. The company said garments from these fabrics can be worn for six months without washing and the fabrics are guaranteed for more than 50 washes.
The majority of the line is made from organic cotton, said Barbara Gnutti, export manager of the firm.
Turkey-based Bossa reset their collection of recycled and raw denim with dyeing processes, including one in which the fabric is dyed with crushed acorns that give the fabric a brownish tone.
Working with China’s Blue Diamond Denim, longtime denim aficionado Adriano Goldschmied looked to fashion a fusion of denim and ath-leisure fabrics with an indigo-dyed two-sided knit fabric.
“You have a finishing on the fabric like a normal denim but this new way of designing denim fabrics is a revolution from the traditional stretch jean,” he said.
A number of companies with interests in the development of sustainable denim, other textiles and finished garments have joined FG Group to aid in the development of the House of Denim’s Blue Lab, where students at the denim school will work to minimize the environmental impact of jeans and denim production. Italy’s Candiani and Garmon Chemicals, Spain’s Jeanologia and Turkey’s Tolkar have moved forward with investments in the project.
Garmon and Candiani had previously announced a collaboration with Invista to develop new approaches to stretch fabrics.
The second edition of Denim Days and Kingpins in Amsterdam brought the introduction of the Global Denim Awards, sponsored by E3/Bayer CropScience, in which young designers were paired with denim mills and challenged to excel in areas such as innovation, design, sustainability and craftsmanship. Jonathan Christopher, who works with Karl Lagerfeld, won the first prize of 10,000 euros, or $12,500, for his collaboration with ITV.
The next Kingpins show in Amsterdam will take place April 15 and 16, in the middle of Amsterdam’s celebration of Denim Days April 13 to 18. Andrew Olah, founder of the show and chief executive officer of Olah Inc., which produces the markets, said the next edition of the show will include a “transformers’ conference” focused on new processes, machinery and materials to promote sustainability and efficiency.