Demand for Denim Bursts at Seams : Retailing: As the jeans and other items grow in popularity, Gap touches off a price war.
Denim, the craggy elder of natural fibers, is fashion’s newest darling.
Kids in the ‘hood and in the mall have taken to wearing jeans fitted for elephantine thighs. Dyed denim has splayed its colors across the country. Even Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace has paired denim shirts with ball-gown skirts.
All of which has triggered a price war among retailers for whom denim has long been the bread and butter of sales. The current run on denim has manufacturers, retailers and consumers cashing in on the renewed cachet of the indigo-dyed cotton twill.
For once, what’s hot is cheap.
Earlier this month, clothing retailer Gap Inc. lowered prices on denim jeans to $28 from $38. It dropped its denim shirts from $42 to $38. The company, which would not comment on its actions, relayed its decision to analysts, who explained the move as Gap’s attempt to reassert its territorial rights over the shifting denim terrain.
“The Gap is seeing that the ‘denim basics’ fashion trend is becoming more predominant,” said Thomas Tashjian, senior retail analyst for First Boston. “They want to assert to the denim customer that they are the best source.”
Tashjian predicted that the price-lowering tactic would work to maintain customer loyalty.
Rather than back away from Gap’s challenge, several other retailers lowered their own prices as part of “back-to-school” sales.
Miller’s Outpost, a chain that sells mostly jeans, has closely mirrored Gap’s price cuts on its Levi 501 jeans. The pants, normally $38, are on sale for $27.99.
That reduction came despite the fact that San Francisco-based Levi Strauss Inc., which raised the wholesale price on those jeans $2 in May, has said that it has no intention of lowering prices. “We can’t respond to what the Gap does,” said spokeswoman Karen Bachmann.
Donald Trott, an analyst at Dean Witter Reynolds, said retail outlets such as Miller’s Outpost will have to continue offering sales.
“The consumer is still only responding to the outstanding value,” he said. “The hottest area in apparel is denim. But in terms of retailing in general, we’re still in a very difficult macro-environment.”
The popularity of the fabric is likely to last as long as retailing’s current woes, said Dana Taryn, fashion editor for Tobe Associates, a New York fashion and consulting firm. Taryn predicts that denim will remain a hot item through spring 1993.
Its retailing success has proven a boon for denim manufacturers such as Greensboro, N.C.-based Burlington Industries Inc. Spokesman Bryant Haskins reported that the textile mill has been running seven days a week, 24 hours a day, to meet demand.
“Since about mid-1991, the denim business has been very good,” Haskins said. “Natural fibers are generally very strong right now. But denim has become an especially stylish item.”
Burlington, which manufactures about 70 denim styles for a range of labels, including Wrangler, Lee and Calvin Klein, is in the unusual position of having to turn away potential clients.
“There are a lot of people trying to buy denim from us right now,” Haskins said. “The problem is that we can only service so many people.”
Perhaps the shortage of material has led some designers to branch out into “denim-style clothing.”
The same double stitching and grommets--the metal studs that anchor denim seams together--that have long characterized jeans have begun to appear on such un-rugged materials as linen, according to Taryn. “It’s all coming out of the jean scene,” she said.
Faced with such an array of competitors, Taryn questioned Gap’s price-slashing strategy. A growing variety of styles and makers will continue to draw new customers “just because there are so many bodies out there,” Taryn said. “It’s a huge game.
