The new jean-e-ology: study color - denim pants - Special Supplement: Apparel Merchandising

Discount Store News, April 1, 1996

Half a tiered table of stonewashed men's five-pocket jeans in three colors doesn't look like a tidal wave of fashion - unless you see it through the eyes of an apparel buyer.

"It's hard to get newness in jeans," says Arlene Langone, men's sportswear buyer at Ames, calling the results of a 50-store fashion test "phenomenal." The 307-store chain has rolled out the Riders program chainwide after getting "three times the projected results" of the test, which began last October. Previously, Ames carried Riders product in only traditional indigo shades and black.

Ames, like most discounters, gives ample floor space to the five-pocket category because of its basic popularity. But margins have seldom been tighter in the business, and volume for most retailers is flat. Langone and Ames have found incremental business by adding a layer of color to the mix.

Ames merchants are especially happy about the new color program not only because of the extra volume, but because of the sustained initial markup. As Ames divisional merchandise manager for menswear Bob Smekal notes, "You don't mark down color denim as aggressively, you give everything away in blue denim." The Riders color jeans are offered at $24.99.

Langone says she was surprised that sandstone, a light tan hue, has proven the strongest color. For spring, Ames showed two pairs of sandstone for every one pair of moss green or deep indigo. The moss replaced the pine green used in the mix last fall. Later this year, Ames plans to return to hunter green and replace the dark indigo with pewter.

Ames is also seeing good turn in a test of a slate gray color from Wrangler, and may bring it fully into the mix for Back-to-school.

Venture Stores will add a bundle of color to its currently black and blue five-pocket assortment by late summer, says Ed Uchtman, vice president and general merchandise manager, men's and boys'. "We'll carry color in two programs," he says, "probably Riders and Brittania."

With an eye toward building a higher-priced jeans business, both Venture and Ames are using color to reinforce the value quotient in denim.

Meanwhile at Burlington Coat Factory, at least one opportunistic buy has resulted in a wealth of colored jeans. The Calvin Klein assortment, priced at $29.95 ("Compare at $60.00," it touts), is currently offered in hunter, burgundy, overdyed indigo and other off-season hues.

However, not every retailer is embracing color.

At Kmart, for example, you can have any color jeans you want, as long as they're blue or black. Basics, meaning black, bleached and a couple of blues, are also the only choices at Old Navy Clothing Co.

One pervasive fashion tack is looser silhouettes. Ames is taking a position in loose fit with a test of Brittania in a middle-of-the-road stonewashed blue palette. Loose fit can bring jeans up to a new price level. Kmart offers its Brittania men's loose fit at $22.99, a dollar higher than both the relaxed and regular cuts, and the top price point in the department.

John Lupo, executive vice president, general merchandise manager for soft lines at Wal-Mart, says, "Loose-fitting jeans have become a bigger piece of the total." senior vice president, gmm Jim Sparks agrees that silhouettes with "looser, wider fits, some with the wide leg all the way down," have become more important.

Chic/H.I.S. president Bob Luehrs says, "We have a feeling that the business is swinging into some fashion bodies, we recommend the wide leg for big-city stores."

Some vendors are attempting to exploit jeans fashion by creating new lines.

The latest extension that tiptoes in the direction of fashion is the ironically named Basics by Wrangler Hero. This grouping offers looser fits, stonewashes and overdyes. Textures like ring spun and localized sandblasting are featured as well.

Brittania is offering some "subtle but definitive changes" in the main part of the men's line, says Michele deVogelaere, director of merchandising. "Straight legs are becoming more important in all silhouettes, with wide legs - up to 22 in. - in younger sizes." She adds that overdyed finishes continue to gain popularity as bleached looks diminish in fashion pull.

Despite the inroads in fashion styling, merchants have done little on the selling floor to draw consumer attention to the newer products. They cite the prohibitive costs of housekeeping and the dearth of real estate on the selling floor.

Retailers continue to be bullish on proprietary branding. Ames and Venture are the latest companies to enter the fray. Ames calls its program, hitting the floor in men's, boys' and girls' departments, Cool Blues.

Priced at $15.99 the rinsed Cool Blues are one dollar above the opening-price Rustler rigid goods. In addition, Ames has set a May 1 delivery for pre-washed relaxed fit Rustler jeans to trade up a segment of its lower-price customers. Priced at $19.99, this jean takes a tertiary spot on the price scale, below Riders at $24.99 and Wrangler at $21.99.

For its part, Venture plans an all-new denim program for Back-to-School, with a moniker yet to be announced. It may take the place of the "secondary brands," Uchtman says. He projects the addition of tops to the program by this year's Holiday season.