FashionLondon economy
Part of the men’s main
range at Marks & Spencer
VALENTINO wide leg
jeans at Farfetch £515
STELLA MCCARTNEY polka dot
boyfriend jeans, £410 from Farfetch
men and women is Diesel retailing at around
£150 for a pair (their range sells at £90 to
over £200).
A quick scroll through Farfetch (the UK’s
biggest seller of luxury denim) reveals even
more statement jeans: polka dot tomboy jeans
by Stella McCartney for £410, wide legged
jeans by Valentino for £515, and some rare
imported patchwork skinny jeans by Greg
Lauren for an eye-watering £991!
But is the fashion industry losing a little
perspective regarding this piece of leisure
wear? While the global denim market is set
to grow, topping $122 billion by 2016, it
seems that shoppers are less willing to spend
such huge amounts on the humble jean…
Earlier this year, analysts Editd looked at the
Marks and Spencer
limited edition, £35
Patchwork skinny jeans by Greg
Lauren, £991 from FarFetch
whole denim market – a whopping 150,000
denim products including skirts, shirts,
jackets but, of course, predominantly jeans
which still make up over three-quarters of the
market.
Editd’s report, Denim Retail in 2015, found
that the premium and luxury denim market
has slumped by 24%. The report analysed
retail data of denim products from low to
high-end in 2014 and saw that the balance
was tipping in favour of the cheaper end of
the market. Sales of value and mass-produced
denim had rocketed by 52% and 29%
respectively.
Almost every high-street store has a jeans
line nowadays – TopShop, Marks & Spencer,
House of Fraser and Debenhams lines all
sell well. But ASOS is the value jeans market
FashionLondon 41
New Look jeans
leader selling their own line of styles for
£35-£40 but also stocking jeans for under
£50 from New Look, Warehouse and River
Island.
With the mass market so good at replicating
trends we’re spoilt for choice when it comes
to style and fit. Lower prices mean we can
afford to fill our wardrobes with skinnies,
relaxed fits, flares, straight or wide legged,
slim fits and more creating a pair of jeans for
any occasion.
For what has been used globally as a pair
of miner’s work trousers, it could be argued
that the designer price-tags attached to the
artfully placed rips and tears never did make
logical sense. Jacob Davis would be pleased
– it looks like we’ve come full circle with the
simple jean returning to the masses.