Denimandjeans | Global Trends, News and Reports | Worldwide

Author: Sandeep Agarwal

  • Premium denim line from Levi’s – Engineer Garments.

    Levi’s is trying hard to make its presence felt in the Premium Denim segment. The latest effort in this direction came with the launch of the Levi’s Engineered Garments – a collection of high end Men’s Jeans and casual clothes. Not to be confused with the (much cheaper) Engineered Jeans® of Levi’s, this collection derives its name from a New York label – Engineered Garments – who designed the same.
    The 501 button fly jeans modeled after 1947 versions is priced at USD 235/- which is signicantly higher than the previous premium denim collection of Levi’s – Capital E which were in the range of USD 150.
    The jeans are available for sale at Bloomingdales

    Levi’s has been struggling to reinvent itself as (also) a premium denim label due to the large market of about USD 1 billion (in US) which seems to be still growing well. However, it has not been able to make any significant dent in this market till now which has been dominated by the likes of 7 for all Mankind, True Religion, Earl Jeans .

    The words ‘Engineered garments on the rollback

  • Raymond denim to be sold after UCO denim unit shutting out?

    The denim unit of the UCO appears to have shut down resulting in a loss of more than 350 jobs . It was a part of the Raymond UCO denim. The two companies had merged their denim operations in 2006 with headquarters in Belgium and forming a combined entity manufacturing about 80 million metres of denim.
    Raymond has been suffering huge losses on its denim operations for the last few quarters. In the last financial year, the losses to the tune of Rs120 cr(about USD 29 million) were declared by the Raymond Group on its denim operations.
    As per reports in a national paper , Raymond appears to be willing to put its denim operations on the block. The worsening denim market coupled with increased prices of raw material – cotton – have contributed to this poor performance by the company. However, according to informed sources, Raymond has not yet taken a decision to this effect .
    Raymond Denim is one of the most respected denim company in India and enjoys a good brand image overseas. It deals with all the major denim labels and is well known for its denim developments.
    Then what are the reasons for the current situation?
    I think the merger with UCO was mistimed . Europe is no longer the right place to manufacture low value textiles like denimand to take up cost of running a number of manufacturing units there pulled heavily on Raymond Denim’s balance sheet. To top it up, the denim markets scenario worsened , rupee appreciated against the dollar and raw material (cotton fibre) became costly, wiping out margins.
    However, it still seems unlikely that Raymond will sell of its denim unit – though it may restructure it The denim operations align well with the other textile products of Raymond(Suitings,Apparel etc) and unless Raymond is unable to make a reduction in losses even in this year (with a much depreciated rupee) , I don’t think they would like to sell their denim operations.

  • Japanese denim specialities explained by a denim expert-video

    Gordon Heffner is the owner of the Denim shop Blue in Green in New York. This shop is one of the best shops in the world for buying Japanese denims.
    In an interview to Tokyo Eye, Gordon tells about some specialities of the jeans from Japan and takes us through a tour of Tokyo denim market.
    Some highlights of the video:

    1. Have a look at Green tea dyed, Persimmon dyed or even MUD dyed jeans . Sugarcane denim made from 50% sugarcane extract is also interesting.
    2. Distressing of jeans: Can you age your jeans without destroying the fabric a little ? The normal techniques used for ageing the jeans are with sandblasting or sandpaper scrubbing. However, there are some solutions available which can age the jeans without affecting the fabric.
    3. Vintage Jeans: Can anyone spend upto 3 years to recreate a vintage a tattered 150 years old jeans? Some denim maniacs in Japan do

  • Widgets for Denims and Jeans.com


    Do you want to see the content from Denimsandjeans.com at another place – say your website or blog.
    It would be very easy to do it now. Here are some widgets which you can use to see live content from our site .
    1. Panoramic Slideshow: With this widget, you can easily see all the photos on our site in a slideshow. See the widget here . Just click on ‘Grab Widget’ at the bottom to get the code for this widget. Just paste this widget on any site/blog and see the photos from our site alongwith the titles of the posts where they are posted.

    This widget can also be seen on the sidebar (right bottom of this site).

    2. Tag Cloud Widget: The tag clouds from our site can be seen on this widget. A click on any tag would take you to posts related to that tag.


    3.Feed Content: Want to be updated on the new posts that come on our site. Just grab this widget and put it on your blog/site.

  • Denim Producer Weiqiao Textiles of China announces half yearly results

    Weiqiao Textile Company Limited of China is  a non state-owned enterprise and the largest cotton textile producer in the PRC, specializing in the production, sales and distribution of cotton yarn, grey fabric and denim.  Weiqiao Textile is located in Shandong, China’s second largest cotton producing province. The Group has four production bases in Weiqiao, Binzhou, Weihai and Zouping and employs approximately 132,000 people. For the half year ended 30 June 2008, the Group produced 422,000 tons of cotton yarn, 751,000,000 meters of grey fabric and 88,000,000 meters of denim.

    Denim Results: The company produced about 88million mtrs of denim and achieved a turnover of RMB 704 million or about USD 104 million. This translates into an average price realisation per metre of fabric of about USD 1.20 . Though the company produces more of lighter weight denims(which are cheaper), still the average prices are quite low even if compared with  denim companies in other Asian countries.

    Related links :

    Quotes and news for Weiqiao Textiles

  • Harem Skinny Jeans – a new jeans style for S/S’09 by Miss Sixty

    During the recent New York Fashion Week, Miss Sixty brought out a new style of Jeans – Harem Skinny Jeans.

    This is a balloon shaped Jeans with drop crotch and surprisingly a skinny fit..
    This is a completely new style and it needs to be seen how it gets received . However, I have a feeling that this kind of jeans will be suitable for only a particular built as it may blow the figure out of proportions for many.


    Related links: Miss Sixty New styles on sale in the last few weeks

  • Japanese denim – Environment friendly jeans manufacturing attempts

    Japan Fashion Week recently concluded in Tokyo.
    Besides the usual show, there was an exhibition on the denim industry in Japan – Japan Blue.
    The highlight of this exhibiton was that the Japanese denim industry is working on various ways to make the entire Denim/Jeans manufacturing process as environment friendly as possible.Denim fabric manufacturer Nisshinbo is using discarded banana stocks in its fabrics .Manufacturer Nihonmenpu is producing items dyed with natural mulberry lavender.See the photo below (left one is Nisshinbo fabrics and right ones are Nihonmenpu fabrics).

    There is also a very interesting attempt to reduce the water required to produce Jeans. One pair of Jeans supposedly takes around 200 litres of water to be produced . With billions of jeans produced around the world, a huge amount of water is used to manufacture jeans and the wastage is then released into the rivers and hence oceans. A Japanese company Howa is working on a technology to wash down the Jeans using OZONE and not water. It displayed the results from its experiments and here are some photographs.If this company succeeds in making this process commercially viable, it has huge implications for the denim industry. Not only will it has the possibility to reduce the water consumption for Jeans production drastically, but it can also help in denim/jeans manufacturing units to be put up in place where water is scarce.See here jeans washed by this method.

    Check more details on this exhibition here
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  • Rebound in US Men’s Jeans import in second quarter


    As I mentioned in my previous report, there was a fall of about 10% in the first quarter for the total jeans imported into US. However, we now see a decent 7% improvement in the second quarter corresponding to the same quarter last year.. Here is a chart comparing the two years data by quarter..

    Mens Jeans Imports into US 2007 & 2008 – Quarter wiseNew Page 1

    Quarter 2007(million pcs) 2008(million pcs) Fall/Rise(%)
    First 49.26 43.99 -10.69%
    Second 68.56 73.60 +7.29%
    Third 84.62
    Fourth 71.44

    The third and the fourth quarters are the main quarters when we see the volumes jumping. We will have a much better idea only at the end of the third quarter. But if my guess is correct , the imports in the third quarter may register a fall and the improvement that we see in the second quarter is temporary.

    Related Posts:

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  • ‘How to…..’ denim videos.

    Here are some cool denim ‘How to ..’ videos from across the net – simple but instructive .
    HOW TO BRUSH A WHISKER ON DENIM JEANS
    Ever wanted to create that odd whisker on your jeans but are afraid it may spoil your jeans. See here how you can do it easily with a sandpaper .The sand paper is folded in “V” shade so that the centre part of the whisker is heavier & edges are feathered out.

    HOW TO BUY HIGH WAIST DENIM ?
    Buying High waist denim is confusing for many .Here is a little guide from an expert

    How to Buy Designer High Waist Jeans — powered by ExpertVillage.com

    HOW TO CONVERT YOUR JEANS INTO A MINI SKIRT
    This one is cool and of interest to all females. Just cut out your old jeans and get a great looking skirt.

    Recycle an Old Jeans into a Sexy Mini Skirt – The funniest home videos are here

    Are you in love with Skinny Jeans but don’t want to go out and buy one. No worries, just see here
    HOW TO CONVERT YOUR NORMAL JEANS TO SKINNY.

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    Looking at Evisu Jeans, I was encouraged to paint my jeans , but did not know how to go about it.
    This video on ‘HOW TO PAINT JEANS‘ helped …

    How to Use Stencils to Paint Jeans — powered by ExpertVillage.com

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  • New sulphur dyes from Clariant to improve color fastness on denim


    Advanced Denim is a new concept based on two new sulphur dyes – introduced by Clariant last week in the Blue Zone fair. They mention that from a technology point of view, Advanced Denim offers fast-to-repetitive washing, good rubbing fastness and an easy application process. Environmentally, it features an ecological dyeing process (no hydros, less water consumption), denim that fulfills GOTS requirements, and wash-down bleaching without the need for hypochlorite (Aox free). Fashion effects include dark denim, ring denim and solid denim, along with a wide variety of shades.

    However, Rubbing fastness on denim can be achieved in a number of ways and having a very fast color negates the nature of denim. Denim has retained its youth appeal mainly because of its wash down effects which give  the garment different personas over different periods of time. However, it is the environmental effect that is  interesting and welcome. Traditionally denim manufacturing consumes a lot of water – specially during the dyeing process and water saving in any form is good. Also wash down bleaching without hypoclorite is also environment and human friendly .

  • Latest denim trends


    Is there a way to search for the latest on Denim Trends? Searching Google news might be one option and searching a host of other denim sites may be another option. But I like to look at search for latest in denim from the denim search engine which searches all these sites at one go. Here are some links that I would like to share :

    a)Denim trends in last one year : this link gives the search results for the last one year related to denim trends.
    Use the drop down option at the top to see results for last month or day etc.
    b)What kind of jeans denim forums and denim blogs are talking about lately?
    c)What are the latest styles of jeans of existing brands and some new brands which have come up in last one month..

    And to know which jeans the Top News Channels/Sites are talking about, just check out here
    Cool checking….

  • Levi’s India adjust pricing strategy


    Levi’s India plans to vacate the middle price segment and concentrate on the lower and the higher ends.Its Signature brand – which is the value offering – will see a further fall in price and start at Rs 900 instead of Rs 1000(USD 22 instead of USD 24 approx.). On the other hand, the premium segment will see an increase of about 15% in average pricing and increase to about Rs 2400(about USD 58). The report by Economic Times also mentions that in the next six months, the company will roll out its high-fashion, high-end brand Levi Rivet nationally.
    The company is also planning to increase its adspend significantly during the next few months as it sees a slowdown and counts on its advertising to perk up the sales and take an increasing share in the 10 million value jeans and about 3 million premium jeans market in India.
    Levi’s has been continously moving in the direction of vacating the mid-priced segement – as I mentioned in a previous post also and probably this is a sign of times to come for many large denim labels. The mid-priced segment of the Jeans is experiencing the miniumum growth and its share is being taken up by local brands who are more adaptable to local conditions (in India brands like Spykar,Killer etc)

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