Product development is especially important in the denim market because of demands for novelty and performance, both on the fabric production side and from the garment processing side.

There are 2 aspects to product development of fabrics. Product development is usually thought of as creating a product for the market with significantly different colors, appearances (flat, slubs), hands (soft, raspy) or performance (stretch, permanent press).

The other aspect of product development, equally important, is product improvement, which includes reducing defects, improving performance (shrinkage, stretch, reducing costs).

The leading denim companies in the U.S. conducted extensive research into solving the mysteries of denim production, especially in dyeing and finishing, Outside the U.S., there are some denim companies in countries like Italy, Turkey and Japan that are well-known for their quality.

The leader in denim quality, Burlington, developed a reputation for quality such that active marketing was not necessary in some years. In fact, their denim was in such high demand because of its quality, that Burlington could not produce enough and resorted to rationing their fabric to their best customers. Of course, the prices that they received were much better simply because they could deliver the highest quality consistently.

While most of the denim factories in the U.S. were closed by the late 1990’s, there are still 4 operations remaining, no large establishments are left, only 2 small and 2 medium operations.

The 2 small operations (Cone and Denim North America) are dedicated to high-fashion denim, while the 2 medium-sized companies rely primarily on producing large quantities of a few basic styles, but with high levels of quality.

One of the medium-sized operations, Mount Vernon, also produces significant quantities of non-denim fabrics which provides financial stability and flexibility in textile markets. The other, American Cotton Growers, also produces a line of fashion denims that are in strong demand.

Producing the highest-level quality denims may be the surest route to long-term success. The higher-fashion market is unpredictable and makes sudden changes that has had the effect of a financial earthquake on denim producers that struggle with specialty denim. Mixing basic and specialty denim in the same production operation can complicate manufacturing to the point where effective control is lost.

WHEN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CAUSES PROFIT  OR LOSSES

The product development function can also be a financial liability, if it lacks FOCUS and DISCIPLINE. The FOCUS of product development must be company profits; to maintain that focus, marketing managers must exercise DISCIPLINE by not trying to provide every fabric requested by customers.

• Producing a new product involves additional costs which must be absorbed by manufacturing.
• These costs include set-up costs in affected production departments; disruption of planned production; material costs for special fibers, yarns, dyes and chemicals; and the cost of carrying inventory when no buyers can be found for the new fabrics.
• While the previously-mentioned expenses can be quantified, there can also be a significant loss as a result of deterioration in process control and quality assurance.
• Producing denim fabrics is complex with many variables. When additional variables are introduced, complexity increases and additional variability results. Too often, denim marketing managers force manufacturing to make sudden changes in order to book an order that creates a net financial loss.

NOT MUCH REALLY NEW

• There have been thousands of different denim fabrics produced and only a few hundred have experienced significant commercial success.
• With the exception of minor variations, such as the use of unusual fibers like bamboo or application of special chemicals like polyurethanes, very little truly original denim has appeared in many years.
• For the most part, the same denim fabrics are re-cycled in cycles of perhaps 5 or 10 years.They merely seem to be new because of their long absence from the market.An excellent example of this is “antique” or “authentic” denim as it is called. Around1980, the U.S. denim industry had nearly eliminated all shuttle-weaving in favor of rapier or projectile weaving. The denim that we were weaving on the shuttle looms was less than a meter wide, which  was no longer acceptable to the market. The fabric weight was 12.5 oz/square yard,- the yarn was ring spun, 7.5/1 Ne in the warp and 6.75/1 Ne in the weft. The reed had 6.5  dents per centimeter and the speed was very slow, around 100 rpm.
• All of the shuttle looms were sent to the warehouse and no one expected to see them again.
• By 1990, however, the fabric was back in demand for high denim fashion and has remained strong in the market for 20 years.

POTENTIAL FOR NEW FABRICS

The remarkable appeal of this “antique” denim is probably because it has a home-made or hand-woven character. The shuttle loom is the closest automatic weaving machine to handloom weaving with its large shed opening and low tensions.

For denim executives that are struggling in the current market with its increasing demands for lower prices, organizing an effort utilizing hand-loom weaving could offer a new source of revenue. There are millions of hand-loom weavers all over the world and denim operations, especially those with sheet Indigo machines, produce large quantities of waste yarn, as a result of dye machine stops or slow speeds and is not suitable for automatic weaving and( that is already dyed and sized, ready for weaving.

In this way, yarn waste could be used for a very high value-added product, which would also employ many people in developing countries and also contribute to “sustainability”.

Further, by applying special hand-finishing techniques, a new fashion trend could result.

This is a guest post by Harry Mercer. Mr. Mercer has 30 years experience in the denim business including 3 prominent U.S. denim companies : Cone, Swift and Graniteville. He is an expert colorist for measurement and color matching as well as textile testing. Over the last 15 years he has consulted to 35 denim  operations around the world and is widely considered to be a leading authority  for denim dyeing, finishing and fashion denim development.To contact him, email him or  leave comments below

Have some spare old jeans which you can dispense with ? Go to any Gap store and return your old jeans and get 30% off denim purchases at (selected) Gap stores till March 14th.

Initiated by the Cotton Incorporated , the Cotton: From Blue to Green Project takes your old jeans and converts them into Ultra touch Natural Cotton Fibre Insulation for communities in need.

The first From Blue To Green denim drive in 2006 collected 14,566 denim pieces across the US, more than double the anticipated amount. Since then, the project has expanded its reach through partnerships with national retailers and organisations including American Eagle Outfitters, Bloomingdales, National Jean Company, Ernest Sewn and G by Guess.

To date, the UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation manufactured by Bonded Logic Inc. has recycled enough denim to create natural cotton fibre insulation for over 540 homes.The COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.^® denim drive is a call-to-action to donate denim and give it “new life” by converting it to UltraTouch™ Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation. The insulation is then provided to communities in need to assist with building efforts. UltraTouch™ is composed of 85% recycled cotton fibers and is an environmentally safe, non-itch insulation without carcinogenic warnings, formaldehyde or chemical irritants. It provides exceptional thermal performance and acoustically provides 30% better sound absorption than traditional fiberglass insulation. In addition, it is one of the only insulating products that contain an active mold/mildew inhibitor.

PS:This offer is not valid online, at Gap Outlet, Gap Factory Store, or The Gap Generation stores. Not valid on Converse® or Stella McCartney for GapKids/babyGap.

Denim Apparel Imports -Value and Average Price

source:us dept of commerce
We can hope that the year 2010 would show an improvement in prices and the volumes as well as the reports trickling in are positive.

Here is another video – “Behind the scenes at the AW 2010 Presentation”

Behind the scenes at the AW/10 Presentation from Acne Studios on Vimeo.

Acne Jeans is a Swedish denim jeans  manufacturer and part of the Stockholm-based design firm "Ambition to Create Novel Expressions" (ACNE). Acne is a Swedish group of companies founded in 1996 in Stockholm. The denim offshoot began in 1997 when ACNE designed 100 pairs of jeans to distribute among friends, family and clients of the company. Before long a public request for these raw denim jeans with red stitching appeared and the following year (1998) Acne Jeans released its first collection. Ever since Acne Jeans has released two yearly collections every spring and autumn.

The products designed by Acne Jeans follow a very minimalistic style which also characterizes other Scandinavian fashions designers  Acne Jeans is known to do things their own way. For example, Acne Jeans abstains from advertising in any fashion magazine, instead they have published their own fashion magazine Acne Paper twice each year since 2005.

• A very limited number of exclusive exhibitors are invited to participate.
• Buyers are selected and invited personally by Olah Inc  and no other visitors are allowed in the show.
• Buyers and exhibitors interact in a relaxed atmosphere on sofas and savour the free food provided by the show.
• Not to forget the famous party given at the end of first day.
• No hustle, bustle of regular trade shows where exhibitors are busy separating a good buyers from uninvited time killers or competitors.

To know more about the show it was natural that we had to speak to the man who brought this concept to life – Andrew Olah of Olah Inc. Olah Inc is a 51 year old textile agency company that specializes in the jeans industry  and  also consults for various companies in marketing and educational capacity.

Q.Kingpins is an amazing success. Could you explain the concept behind the Kingpins show?

A.I am not sure I would use the word “amazing” in describing the success we have had with Kingpins. We have surprisingly surpassed our goals and expectations.
Kingpins is an intentionally tiny boutique jean supply chain event where a small number of exhibitors, present their new products to the jeans industry. The show currently runs twice a year in New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Our idea is the bring the show to the buyers rather than make the buyers travel to the show.

Q.When did you start these shows ?

Our first Kingpins was held in an art gallery in Soho, in July 2004.

Q. How has Kingpins grown over the years?

Our first show had eleven exhibitors, and probably attracted 40 customers. Our last New York show had 25 suppliers and attracted over 150 customers. Our party (the market especially in New York loves our parties) had 400 guests.

Q.Why did you select ‘Denim’ as the main product for the shows?

We never selected “denim” as the main product. There was no other choice! I have worked in the denim industry for over 35 years.I love this industry and at this point of my career is the only thing I know well.

Q.Exhibitors can participate in the show only by invitation. What is your criteria for sending them invitation? Many of our readers are denim companies and they often enquire about the same.

The word Kingpins is a synonym for “leader”. We’d like our exhibitors to excel at what they do. Copen for example, one of our exhibitors has been in the pocketing industry for over 60 years. Cone is the oldest denim mill in the world. Kurabo another denim exhibitor is renowned throughout the world as one of the best denim producers. Our mission is to have excellent exhibitors present at the show so that the customers can rely on the fact that if an exhibitor is at Kingpins, that means they are excellent at what they do.

Q.There are no tickets for visitors in the show and they can come only by invitation. How do you ensure that important buyers visit your show?

Our company Olah Inc. has been in the jeans industry a long time. We represented Legler (the first denim mill in Europe) from Italy for 25 years and have worked for Kurabo for over 20 years. We know many of the customers and maintain strong industry relationships. Customers have graciously attended our shows and in many cases have helped with our show, giving us ideas of what to do. The market’s support of the show has been one of it’s most surprising features. Adriano Goldschmied in particular has been an incredible advocate of what we do and unbelievably supportive. Frankly without him I would never have had the courage to do the first show. He convinced me that we could not fail.

Q.How has been the response of the exhibitors to your shows? Do they  get enough business from the shows and are continuing with participating in your shows?

No show can can continue without Exhibitor support. Kurabo for example has three booths at all six shows. Tavex shows at both NY and LA, Nexgen our label exhibitor shows at all six shows etc. It’s of great concern to us that our exhibitors are satisfied with the connections they make at our shows. One can never tell if an exhibitor is happy with the show until they agree to come to the next one. So far, we have been very lucky and found the exhibitors to be satisfied and continue to come.

Q.How do you compare your show with other denim shows like ‘Denim by Premier Vision’,'Munich Fabric Start’,'Bread & Butter’ etc?

We cannot compare our Kingpins event with either show. “Denim by Premiere Visions” is a large trade show and while it too is a denim supply chain show, it is in Paris and expects customers from all over Europe to come to Paris to see it.
Bread and Butter is a massive event in Berlin. It focuses on branded jeans and is not at all a supply chain show.
Our Kingpins are tiny shows. Los Angeles currently has only 17 exhibitors (this number will not grow), and is held in what might be called a “garden” setting. Hong Kong will have 25 exhibitors. We don’t want more exhibitors and consider our shows less as “fairs” than as celebrations. Because of our size and specific goals we can treat exhibitors and customers as if they were coming to our house for an afternoon “showing“.

Q.What kind of buyers are most frequently visiting your show - Premium denim brands,Other denim labels, Retailers, Buying Houses etc?

We have a different set of visitors in each show. In New York the majority of customers that come are retailers. In Los Angeles we mostly attract premium brands. In Hong Kong, buying offices and garment factories visited us.

Q.Do you plan to extend the Kingpins show to  other parts of the world?

Surprisingly, we are being encouraged by many people to expand our show and deposit it in more locations. We will run a show in Shanghai in October after our Hong Kong show and we are studying other possible locations. Bringing Kingpins to various markets interests us. I think our “setting” and the quality of our exhibitors allows us opportunities to place the show in other countries and regions.

Q.In the  last NY show, about 150 denim buyers visited the show and about 25 exhibitors were there. What do you think would be the average number of buyers who would have visited a single exhibitor?

I am not privy to the exhibitor’s guest list or their activity but I know Kurabo generally gets 7-10 sample orders a day from clients.

Q.Coming to denim business in US : What do you think would be the total size of premium denim market in US and how is it growing?

I probably should be easily able able to spit out exact numbers regarding the premium business but I can’t. I am not even sure how to define premium any more as the market is so diffused. Can anyone clearly state what a premium jean is? If Gap uses a Kurabo Japan fabric and does an amazing wash on their jean, is this a premium denim? If Uniqlo uses selvege or two way stretch fabrics from Kurabo is this premium?

I am not trying to avoid the question rather seeking to understand it.

Q.How many premium denim labels would be there in US ? Do you think there is still room for more growth?

Years ago Motorola and Nokia dominated the mobile phone industry. Suddenly Apple appeared and has snatched a massive market share.There is always room for innovation.

On the other hand there are a lot (not sure how many.. 50? 100? 200?) premium brands in the USA. The market is certainly mature. I am not sure we need any more “average” Premium brands.

Q.How do you think Denim business has changed over the last 10 years?

Two things have changed the industry. The first is that brands have found success using better fabrics and the second is that much more attention is being paid to wet processing.

Q.Last but not the least - How can one get an invite to your show ?

Actually the guest lists for all shows are vetted by Olah Inc. The goal of the invite list is to ensure that the only visitors to the show are buyers. We are not a show that wishes to attract networkers or anyone who is not a buyer or potential buyer from any of the exhibitors.

Unlike other shows, we treat as I have stated before, all guests as if they were invited to our home, subsequently we wish to have some kind of control on who comes and the criteria is strict with regards to entry.

Some More Images and Links on Kingpins

Kingpings NY show Jan 2010
Kingpins Hongkong Debut Show

If you wish to contact Mr. Andrew Olah , you can contact at this email address

Denim Fabric has been produced in the United States since the 1830’s. The denim twill weave results in high strength and durability. For those reasons denim has been used for centuries in garments worn by sailors, farmers, cowboys and laborers of all types.

Denim Industry In US Till 1960s

The Indigo-dyed denim produced in the U.S until the 1960’s was possibly the least fashionable of apparel fabrics. Since denim was primarily found in garments for manual laborers, it was widely viewed as being “low-class”. When I was in my 4^th year of public school, students were not allowed to wear denim at school. The quality of denim, other than its strength and comfort, was the worst among apparel fabrics. Interestingly, one of the most common defects were slubs, that resulted from poor cotton blending, but later became fashionable.

Denim production remained at relatively stable, but low levels until the 1970’s, when the demand reached explosive levels as a result of the potential for color fading of Indigo. Until the 1960’s this color loss after washing was not a characteristic of Indigo-dyed denim. Prior to that time, it was completely unacceptable to consumers to pay for garments that lost color after washing. Indigo dyeing machinery and procedures were quite different from those in use today. With the old procedures the basic Indigo color would remain unchanged for the life of the garment.

In an attempt to reduce the cost of Indigo used to dye denim, the dyeing procedure was altered in order to reduce the solubility of Indigo. This resulted in a heavy concentration of dye at the surface of the yarn, but not allowing the dye to penetrate into the interior of the yarn. This produced the so-called “ring-dyed” effect in which the cotton fibers in the interior of the yarn to remain white. With this method, a very dark shade of Indigo could be produced with 1.5% Indigo instead of the 3% required previously.

This manufacturing change, while reducing costs, was in the short-term a disaster for the denim business that many observers thought would lead to its extinction.

The 1970s

The astonishing reversal of circumstances that occurred in the 1970’s has generally been credited to the “youth rebellion”. In particular, an American film, ”Easy Rider”, portrayed young men wearing faded jeans, riding motorcycles and smoking marijuana. Faded jeans became associated with rebellion and independence.

Rise Of Denim In High Fashion

The rise of denim in high-fashion was completely unexpected and more difficult to comprehend.

There is a famous anecdote that has been often cited. The story is that in New York City, a high-fashion princess walked by a construction site where all the workers wore denim garments. She was fascinated by the faded, worn appearance of the garments and asked the workers about it.

The construction workers explained that they could not wash the garments at home because the sand and cement would damage the motors in their home washing machines. Therefore, in order to clean the garments, they put them into a cement mixer with water, detergent and rocks, which resulted in the faded, worn appearance. This is a logical explanation for the origin of stone-washing.

As a result of the new denim fashion, demand for denim increased far beyond capacities that were then available. Prices increased and existing denim companies (5 at the time) rushed to expand production and other textile companies moved quickly to enter the denim business. Several failed, largely as a result of an inability to master the challenge of denim weaving.

The rapid expansion of denim production was achieved. However, fabric quality was generally poor. Initially, this was not a problem since the demand for denim, even low-quality fabric, was so great that even the worst denim could be marketed at a profit.

The 1980s

Eventually by the early 1980’s, the important customers like Levi’s had made increasing demands for higher quality denim. The leading denim companies, Cone and Burlington, instituted quality assurance programs in all areas, most notably in dyeing and finishing, that dramatically improved their fabric quality. Burlington published an impressive manual for denim quality that reflected their determination not to ship any fabric to a customer unless it was “right”.

In a period of a few years the U.S. denim business went from near extinction, producing some tens of million of meters per year, to hundreds of millions. The U.S. was the center of the international denim business with a reputation for the highest quality denim produced under conditions of high efficiencies.

The Decline Of The US Denim Mfg. Industry

By around 1990, the U.S. denim industry was showing signs of decline. Some of the key reasons for that decline are listed below.

1. The U.S. government was until the 1980’s very supportive and protective of the U.S. textile business. Other U.S. industries were favored to export to some foreign countries in exchange for those countries being allowed to send more textiles to the U.S.
2. The World Bank, which receives its funds from American taxpayers, provided enormous funds to developing countries, much of which was used to improve their ability to compete with U.S. textile companies.
3. The emergence of China as an economic power is a result of a mobilization of that nation’s resources with the single-minded goal to eventually become a world power. No democracy could have directed a program that massive in order to rapidly become dominate in manufacturing and also in global finance. The U.S textile market was a primary target of the Chinese.
4. The denim manufacturers in the U.S. were slow to react to the Chinese threat. It has been suggested that if the U.S. denim companies had worked together as an industry-team the damage could have been limited.
5. Denim executives in the U.S. were shy about taking risks and avoided making the hard, strategic decisions for long-term survival. Instead of mounting a defense of their industry, they often looked to joint ventures outside the U.S. as away to economic salvation. While these joint-ventures provided short-term benefits, U.S. domestic manufacturing was weakened in the long-term.
6. U.S. denim companies in the 1980’s concentrated on expanding their production capacity to the point that they became too big to effectively control. Producing large volumes of denim became an end-in-itself, even when market-demand could not justify it. The overproduction resulted in larger inventories and lower prices.
7. The 1980’s witnessed a burst of corporate greed in the U.S. Textile companies were a favorite target of financial looters, both inside and outside the textile companies. Many textile executives sought to enrich themselves by arranging for compensation in the millions of dollars. There were cases of top managers in textile companies that, fearing a takeover of the company by outside investors, arranged for management buy-outs, in which the companies assumed massive debts so that the managers could become owners of the company.
8. Major purchasers of denim, the “Brands”, developed a strategy to increase the scale and profits of their business. This strategy was characterized by cunning and driven by ruthless greed. The objective was to expand garment volume and create garment price stability, but still increase their profits. This has been accomplished by forcing fabric suppliers to accept smaller margins, even though garment prices stayed the same. The reduced margins paid to the fabric suppliers are absorbed as profits by the big apparel companies.
9. There was a significant change in the attitudes of American consumers toward clothing. Americans had long appreciated quality in their garments and had been willing to pay for it.By the 1990’s, young people generally demonstrated what could be a clothing “fetish”. They typically own enough clothes so that they can wear something different every day for weeks.They have more disposable income than any previous American generation, but they prefer quantity over quality. They passion is for getting the cheap bargain and are generally indifferent to quality.

This is a guest post by Harry Mercer. Mr. Mercer has 30 years experience in the denim business including 3 prominent U.S. denim companies : Cone, Swift and Graniteville. He is an expert colorist for measurement and color matching as well as textile testing. Over the last 15 years he has consulted to 35 denim  operations around the world and is widely considered to be a leading authority  for denim dyeing, finishing and fashion denim development.To contact him, email him or  leave comments below..

Source:US Customs

It is very interesting to see that the trend of increase in imports of women’s/girls jeans continued even in the second half of the year and a net increase of about 3.35%  was achieved on year on year basis (2009 over 2008). The undertone of imports is very strong and indicates a strong market for the women’s denim jeans in the US . This tone is expected to continue even in the current year.

Winners :

China , Vietnam and Bangladesh emerge as strong winners – improving their export performance continuously and in great volumes .China has specially increased its share dramatically.All of these three destinations are strong denim production centers providing low priced jeans. This does indicate that the buyers are definitely getting more and more price concious where denim buying is concerned. However, they also want a quality product and some cheaper destinations which could not probably provide the same –eg Cambodia- have emerged as losers. India has also improved its exports but the overall volumes are quite limited. Lesotho seems to have gained whereas as its sub-saharan fellow country Madagascar is losing its share. Out of the two, Lesotho is a cheaper producer of denim jeans and a number of denim factories(garments) have been established there by reputed manufacturers from around the world including Taiwan.

Losers :

Mexico and South American countries are among the biggest losers . Whereas in earlier years, these countries had captured a large % share of US imports of denim jeans, their importance is slowly reducing on account of increased costs of production . This is despite various advantages provided by the US government to them. Jordan is also losing its cost competitiveness and has lost some share to Egypt. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia are surprise losers – even though being important denim centers and being low cost countries.

So, the lesson is – don’t throw away your old jeans !

PS: Its interesting to note how the innovation of a  small rivet made a huge difference to the selling of jeans and made millions for the owners of Levi’s.

Arvind is currently manufacturing about 6 million mtrs of Organic denim per month and aims to double the same in the coming 2 years. It has tied up with over 1000 farmers in India and buys organic denim directly from them under contract farming. This is definitely beneficial for the farmers as well as for Arvind itself.
But the other aspect of the entry of Wal-Mart and other similar retailers in this segment  is that the price structure gets severely affected - what with Wal-Mart offering Organic Denims at USD 12 !
It makes it much more difficult for other brands to offer Organic Denim as a premium product and offer a REAL ORGANIC DENIM ie denim which does not use any harmful chemicals at all in all stages of production . Denim manufacturing process spoils the environment at  various stages :

• Many indigo dyes themselves have toxic substances. The release of indigo into the environment pollutes the same.
• Denim washing uses a large number of chemicals harmful for the environment.
• The whole process of denim washing is very wasteful in terms of high level of water usage.

Denim Reports : Visit this link and you find it opening like one of our denim reports with a frame like this on the top of the page :

On the frame you will find a counter which is set to 20 seconds by default – which means that you can view the current page for 20 seconds and then it will change to a new article(see image below).
However , if you want to view the current article for more time, just press the  pause button  as below :

If you don’t  , the frame will change to next article after 20 seconds (you can change it to any fixed period eg 100 seconds) and keep on moving like this . And you can just browse through a number of articles in a small period.

What if you want to change the category of articles ? Eg go from Denim Reports to Denim Trends or any other category ? Well, click on the current category that is showing on the frame – in this case “Denim Reports”.

Now you can easily change the category of the articles and shift to a new category eg :Denim Mills . However, for the articles to play automatically, you will have to click on the CLOCK sign and set the time .

And finally, if you don’t want to set any clock time but would still like to see the next article just click on NEXT at the top right of the frame .

You can also revert to previous article by clicking on PREVIOUS.

You can save almost 70% time by viewing our articles like this  or if I can put it this way - “You can view 3 times more number of articles than you view by visiting the site normally”

Here are some opening links so that you can start at one category and go to any category later on . Sit back have your coffee while our articles open up one by one in front of you !.

• Denim Reports
• Denim Trends
• Denim Mills
• Japanese Denim
• Denim Fairs