Men's jeans: more than 210 million sold - in 1992 - Special Supplement: AM Apparel Merchandising - Cover Story

Discount Store News, April 5, 1993

They've been selling like hot cakes, or fast food hamburgers. Maybe make that IBM clones.

More than 210 million pairs of men's jeans were scooped up by consumers during 1992, and so far this year retailers and manufacturers report steep sales increases, some well into the double-digit range.

Last year, shoppers spent $3.5 billion on men's jeans, a 7 percent increase over 1991, which by most accounts was also a banner year for denim. If year-to-date sales continue through December, 1993's denim number could approach $4 billion.

The fiscal facts of the jeans business are no doubt bringing smiles to a broad range of industry players, but those manufacturers and retailers who cater to the mass market have even greater cause to grin. Discount stores continue to sell more men's denim--they generate 30 percent of men's jeans sales--than any other retail tier.

What's more, mass market merchandisers and manufacturers aren't simply trading dollars to build more extensive jeans assortments. Rather, they have been able to increase their positions in casual trousers, activewear and licensed goods concurrently.

As might be expected, the jeans business has discounters and their suppliers singing superlatives.

Men's denim is "outstanding," says Jon Devorkin, divisional merchandise manager, Bradlees, who reports that he finished 1992 with an 11 percent increase in the category. This year, through February, Bradlee's men's jeans posted a 6 percent increase. Considering the harsh weather that provoked a serious decline in retail traffic in the East this winter, that figure is evidence of jeans' lure.

George Needleman, senior vice president at O'Fallon, Mo.-based Venture, dubs his men's jeans business "excellent. It's growing in dollars and units on a store-by-store basis, and that's off of a good year last year," he says.

With the goods checking at retail, it's no surprise that manufacturers are reaping benefits. "The business is tremendous. It's growing faster than we anticipated for '93," says Wrangler's vice president of consumer marketing, Angelo LaGrega, who is anticipating a 25 percent sales increase in men's jeans for the year. "That will be on top of the 40 percent increase we had in 1992," he reports.

Aside from the apparent abiding overall love that men have for these most American of garments, fashion colors, fit and better in-store displays and stock positions seem to be spurring consumers to shell out for jeans.

At Bradlees "colors are doing very well," says Devorkin, who is stocking his floor with bright hues of green, red, orange and purple. Dark green and eggplant are also checking at the store.

Color represents "significantly over 30 percent of the jeans presentation at Venture," Needleman adds.

There are three jeans cuts that are readily available in the market. So-called "regular" cut jeans, the traditional snug silhouette, and relaxed fit, slightly roomier pants, dominate the mass-market assortment. The third style, loose-fitting garments, which have been popular on the fashion edge for some time, are only now beginning to gain a following at the discount store level.

Some merchants, however, appear receptive. "Loose is really the next growth opportunity," Needleman says.

Bradlees' Devorkin has tested baggy styles, "but they didn't do too well. Our customers need to see a change in fashion around for a while before they are comfortable with it," he explains.

However, he hasn't ruled baggies out indefinitely, and could conceivably try them again "maybe for back-to-school in the Jersey stores. The customer down there may not be as cautious as our New England customers," Devorkin adds.

Wrangler's LaGregor reports that 50 percent of his firm's business is currently being done in relaxed-fit jeans; 40 percent of sales remain in regular fit, while 10 percent of Wrangler's volume is generated through loosely cut garments.

Levi Strauss' Brittania division, which generates the lion's share of its men's wear business through the sale of denim, is concentrating almost exclusively on relaxed and loose-fit product. It concedes the traditional-cut business to the competition. "We're staying away from the 505 and 501 (the style numbers refer to models of regular-cut Levi's brand denim) type of jean. In our channel of distribution, Rustler and Wrangler own that business," says Jim Phillips, Brittania's vice president of sales and distribution.

"That business" remains an important core segment of the jeans business for most discounters. While dabbling in color and relaxed fit, Matt Sudhalter, divisional merchandise manager at Franklin, Mass.-based Stuarts is speaking for many mass merchants when he says that "the pre-washed, Rustler business at $13.99 is still a very strong business."

Basics will certainly remain a core component of the jeans business for the foreseeable future, but most retailers and manufacturers believe that the style wheel is turning towards fashion. Some retailers are even prepared to once again highlight--yes, I'm going to say it out loud--bell bottoms.