Posted on 10/12/2015 7:38:19 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Blue jeans are increasingly going out of style, and even industry heavyweights like Levi's and Gap are taking notice.
Teens are now buying more gear from Nike and Lululemon over denim classics from brands like Abercrombie, according to a recent Piper Jaffray survey on teen spending.
Levi's CEO has admitted that the company is threatened by the athleisure trend of wearing yoga pants, Bloomberg reports.
"We’re scrambling," Bloomberg notes CEO Chip Bergh told analysts last year. "I mean, there is a big difference between the product that we’ve got on the floor today and what the consumer is looking for. And we just flat-out missed it."
Bloomberg reports that Levi's, which is the world's most iconic denim company, stuck to its core product instead of adapting to consumer trends.
As a result, this has cost the company. Bloomberg notes sales have dipped from over $7 billion to $4.8 billion over the years.
"As we saw ‘casualization’ continue even further, the customer basically told us that they had enough denim until something really unique and innovative came along,'" NPD analyst Marshal Cohen told Bloomberg. "We really saw the denim industry and denim retailers basically turn their nose up on the customer and say, 'We don’t care what you really want, we’re going to tell you what you want.'"
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Hogwash.
I like the cut of Carhart jeans, and haven’t worn Levi’s jeans in a decade, but you are gith, they are over 40 bucks a pair, that’s a good bit of money.
If I could still buy Levi 501 shrink-to-fit jeans, made in the USA, with the same classic quality as they had until about 1985, I’d have a drawer full of them no matter how much they cost.
Levi lost me when they lowered the quality and shifted the manufacturing overseas.
Same here with levi’s, and the same for Carhart quality. It just isn’t there like it used to be.
Agree on Levis. They’re not the durable working mans jeans they once were. Dickeys makes a good quality jean still at a good price.
Maybe if Levi’s had not endorsed the homosexuals back in the late ‘70’s or so I might still buy their products. Too bad so sad.
That being said, when it is 100 deg outside I am not wearing jeans unless welding or such.
I wore jeans all my life, until I retired. Now it’s cargo shorts in the summer and cargo pants in the winter. Those extra pockets are great for my smart phone and sunglasses.
I still wear Levis, but they’re probably older than you are—LOL!
Man you spend the big bucks! J/K
Old Mill jeans $12 from Menards. I have been wearing them for work and they hold up great.
If they quit making jeans I would have to go to work in underwear.
I was in PFI in Springfield a while back and saw my first pair of jeans that were $180.
Has anyone else noticed the “mens” pants with designs on the back pockets? They are the most homo looking “mens” clothing I have ever seen.
What is with 30-40-50 year old men dressing like teenagers?
This brings me the opportunity to post a little story (true) of somthing that happened in my life recently. A stranger contacted me by phone a few weeks ago. The only reason I answered the call is that the phone number was long distance and was from my home town in California where I have only one relative left.
The lady introduced herself as someone who had shopped at my mom’s estate sale (which was conducted by someone else) a couple of years ago and purchased a pair of Levis dug out of the back corner of some drawer.
Mom died recently at 101 years, and I wrapped up things best as I could (being the only heir). I haven’t lived in the town where I grew up for at least 60 years, so the people conducting the sale were recommended tome by word of mouth.
Anyway, my mom never wore a pair of jeans in all the years I knew her. She considered denim far too casual for her taste. Purely costume fare. Not that she didn’t wear pants, but her taste ran to tailored slacks or pedal pushers for beach, or boating wear. This lady found my mother’s MAIDEN name sewn inside the pocket. The purchaser is an historical write, artist, and vintage clothing dealer.
She finally took the jeans to the Levis Museum in San Francisco for historical identification. They got really excited and said that they’d never seen that style before and wanted them for the museum. Furthermore they wanted the purchaser to research the owner, etc. So, that’s why I received the call.
I could narrow down the date of the pants to between 1929 and 1937. I figure that my mom wore them at her colleg’s Sierra Summer School where the students and instructors camped out and conducted classes outdoors. (hence the embroidered name). Or, she might have worn them during the same period when she rode horses.
So, I have a release on my desk that Levis can publish her story and pictures. I’m just waiting for their FAX number so that I can send it back.
Of all the things Mom did (she was a world traveler) over 101 years, can you imagine her being commemorated in a museum for never throwing away a pair of old pants?
see through yoga pants?
I can still buy Wrangler 13MWZ for less than $30 anywhere. Not to mention they last 10 times longer. I have pairs that I have had for 10+ years. I got a pair of Cinch from the Mrs one Christmas and not only do they wear like crap they wear out after a few runs in the washer.
People that pay $60+ for jeans have other issues, like sanity.
The whole thing of men wearing jeans with bling or patterns on the pocket is another issue that I disdain, sissy jeans.
Wrangler.
Could it have anything to do with outrageous prices?
I buy the $10 or less(sale) ones at Walmart
So, cover your body in talcum powder, climb up on a rooftop and jump into them.
Then you’ll have a pair of Levis 1002 Blues. ...
(Someone’ll get that joke)
I’ve moved on. It’s sweats around the house and Cargo Pants everywhere else. Cargo shorts for hiking.
See #30
You’ll get a laugh.
Solid black. I work on a college campus so I the to see the fashion trends change every year.
Ironically, they have started wearing the same shorts we wore in the 80’s(akin to the old NBA short shorts) instead of the yoga “shorts” they used to wear.
They have about 70 styles, so every store can't have every style, but every store around here does seem to carry the same few styles. And none carry what I want.
You are right on the mark. Blue jeans just don’t last very long anymore. I have trouble with the pockets getting holes in them. They need to go back to the material that they used to use for the pockets. I also switched to Wranglers.
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