What’s the skinny on life after skinny-leg jeans?
J Brand Inc., the tag to have for the tightest of the tight, wants to stick around to see. The slimmed-down denim trend is still humming, but the L.A.-based company is setting itself up for a prolonged stay in the fashion business where labels are as fleeting as Britney Spears’ husbands.
“We are in this to build a brand that we can turn over to our children, and they can turn over to their children,” said Jeff Rudes, founder, chairman and president of J Brand. “Every move that we make has a vision and an intention.”
Even J Brand’s skinny-leg popularity has been carefully cultivated. Introduced last year to specialty store Ron Herman, the company launched skinny-leg jeans with 16-inch leg openings. As consumer interest in the vice-like jeans mounted, J Brand satiated demand with skinnier and skinnier pants, eventually coming up with a 10-inch leg opening.
But J Brand didn’t bombard stores to rack up revenues as women clamored for the latest duds. Instead, it rolled out styles into the chicest urban stores then slowly moved them into suburban outlets. The company gave the choicest stores exclusives on selected styles to lure customers with the most discriminating tastes.
“We are really strategic. We are moving like we are a blue chip Fortune 500 company,” claims Rudes, who has been in the apparel industry for 30 years and did a stint with Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Rudes, stylist Susie Crippen and private label specialist Ken Choi own J Brand, which is projected to pull in $25 million this year.
Controlling distribution has been a key part of the J Brand strategy. Rudes estimates his jeans are in more than 800 stores worldwide. But he said he has turned down at least 100 stores that have asked to sell J Brand. For those stores with J Brand, Rudes has hired merchandise specialists to tailor the available variety and displays to propel sales.
J Brand is positioning itself to be around once women cut skinny-leg jeans from their apparel diet. The company is diversifying its products: men’s items will be shipped in September to the U.S. market and sportswear is set for fall next year.
Television Tale
Like its brick and mortar retail counterparts often do, luxury television shopping company USN Corp. is mixing up its assortment to draw customers. It’s looking for eyeballs, not foot traffic, however.
The company, which broadcasts Ultimate Shopping Network to 30 million households on DirecTV, the Dish Network and other outlets, is adding to its core of jewelry, collectibles and watches. USN has tried out women’s accessories it has sold 20,000 Channel sunglasses at $149 and is expecting to strengthen its health and beauty offerings.
Michael Reinstein, co-founder of the Century City-based company, said such a product mix could help the network broaden its audience from upscale luxury shoppers to the masses. The company is also encouraging this shift by lowering prices; its average ticket now is around $400, down from $1,100 in its early days. The company was established three years ago and began to be publicly traded on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board last year.
But television shoppers aren’t the only customers USN has to attract. Reinstein said cable companies are scanning its products to see if they’re suitable material for broadcasts. Since its founding, the company has gone from broadcasting nine hours on the weekends to providing live feeds all day, everyday.
“Certain cable companies want to see that you have a lot of depth of product in order to get carriage on their platforms,” he said. “The more variety that we have, the more appeal we have to cable companies.”
Staff reporter Rachel Brown can be reached at
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or by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 224.
