INTO THE BLUE; IN ITS SECOND OUTING, ENK INTERNATIONAL'S BLUE SHOW, WHICH RUNS JULY 24 TO 26, IS EXTENDING ITS REACH BEYOND PREMIUM DENIM AND ADDING MORE DIRECTIONAL SPORTSWEAR TO THE MIX-BOOSTING THE NUMBER OF BRANDS AT THE SHOW TO 100, NEARLY DOUBLE LAST SEASON. HERE, A HANDFUL OF COMPELLING NEW LABELS NOT TO MISS AT THE FAST-GROWING SHOWCASE FOR TRENDSETTING MEN'S WEAR.(Original European Denim Company)

Daily News Record, July, 2006 by Lipke, David

Byline: DAVID LIPKE

U.K.'s Lee Cooper Set to Cross the Pond

Lee Cooper was founded in England in 1908 and bills itself as "The Original European Denim Company." It's the third biggest-selling jeans label in the U.K., behind Levi's and Diesel, and it is one of the top five brands in most of the 70 markets it competes in, through various licensing, distribution and join-venture agreements. This year it should ring up about $500 million in retail sales globally, according to brand manager Andrew Rigg.

However, Lee Cooper has never officially been distributed in the U.S., although small amounts of product have been available via the gray market. The reason? A longstanding legal agreement with VF Corp.'s Lee division not to sell here, due to...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.