What Ahead for Men’s Denim?
If you didn’t catch it, read “Trend: The Softer Side of Men’s Denim,” Part I in this article series and a look at what today’s male shopper wants from his jeans.
Now that it’s clear softness and comfort are key in men’s denim, it’s time to take a look at what lies ahead for the category—though comfort won’t be going away anytime soon.
With a men’s jeans category that saw sales worth $7.85 billion in 2015 in the U.S. alone in 2015, it’s time for the market to start paying closer attention to what men want.
“We will still be witnessing the importance of comfort but in a more functional and fashionable way,” Gulfem Santo, marketing team leader at Turkish denim mill Orta Anadolu, said. “Men’s fashion is all about practicability. All they want is all-condition wear with comfortable solutions in the most fashionable way possible.”
Fashion has increased its impact on men’s denim even more of late and Tricia Carey, director of global business development for denim at Lenzing, which supplies mills with the TENCEL® they’ve been using to deliver this demand for softness and comfort, says the fundamental shift in men’s dressing has impacted denim.
“First, there is the gender neutral trend, which means softer and lighter weight fabrications are accepted in men’s denim. It is no longer a fabric mill having a menswear collection and separate womenswear collection,” she said. “Now we see the basic TENCEL® chambray in both men’s and women’s styles.”
The other shift, according to Carey, was activewear’s influence on silhouettes, shapes and fabrics.
“These factors allow for more fiber mixes using TENCEL® to provide comfort, softer hand and performance,” Carey said. “I hear more from our mill partners about new opportunities in men’s denim driven by consumer demand. Even knit indigo and faux-knit indigo looks are now in men’s. This is when innovation and technology merge.”
And innovation in performance fibers has become ever more important in denim garments.
“While comfort and fit are ‘must haves,’ consumers are increasingly looking for their jeans to provide additional functionalities,” Jean Hegedus, global segment director for denim and wovens at Invista, said. “In a recent study commissioned by Invista, nearly 70 percent of consumers indicated interest in purchasing a jean with COOLMAX® fiber that would help them keep cool in the summer. And we see similar findings for jeans that offer insulating properties with the THERMOLITE® brand. So interest is definitely on the rise.”
For Rich Costa, director of sales at Los Angeles-based denim mill Twin Dragon, the future for men’s denim will be all about warp stretch.
“It just makes so much sense,” he said. “I can see this paired with TENCEL® for a really cool jean.”
What brands will have to focus on in delivering this updated wave of denim, is that men of different ages will want denim of different traits.
“The young (17 to 35) skateboard/soccer guy wants a new jean that has the softness of his five-year-old jean in his closet, with great stretch for the new comfort fit and the ability to wear his jeans in mostly whatever he does,” George Lasky of China’s Lucky Textile Mills, explained. “The 35+ year old wants softness—but a different degree of softness—and a fullness to the hand feel. There is also a dressy jean that is definitely happening, with different levels of stretch depending on the age of the guy wearing the jean.”
It’s still early days for the stretch and softness trend in men’s denim, but experts don’t see that trend going anywhere fast. It will just take some men a little time to get familiar with the novel feel.
“Stretch to most males is still new,” Lasky said. “A lot of men haven’t even tried on their first pair.”