Industry Voices: Consultants on the State of Denim, Part 3
Along with the rest of the apparel industry, denim has recently faced some ups and downs due to economic fluctuations and changing consumer behavior. For a window into what is happening on the ground, Carved in Blue is catching up with industry figures—including executives at mills and consultants—to get their perspective.
Here, denim consultants Amy Leverton and Janet Lui weigh in on what they are seeing and the path ahead for the category.
Amy Leverton, owner, Denim Dudes (United States)
Carved in Blue: From your perspective, how is the denim market currently performing? What are the main factors you see affecting the market?
Amy: As far as creativity and inspiration is concerned, denim has never been in a better place. The explosion of bedroom makers during the pandemic years have led to fledgling brands and makers emerging on the scene, thousands of process videos of upcycled projects and a sharing of information, techniques and ideas. Social media is really hitting its democratic era where this generation of creatives are supporting and inspiring each other and sharing views and inspiration. We’ve seen this energy catch on and work its way through the industry, informing more directional and playful design on the runway and in retail.
Carved in Blue: How would you describe the level of consumer confidence compared to last year?
Amy: Having said all of the above, actual consumer spending is in a weird place. We’ve all seen the statistics exploring how much harder millennials and Gen Z have had it compared to their Gen X and boomer counterparts, and the R word has been mentioned all year! Interestingly, not being given the opportunities to get on the housing market or feel financially secure hasn’t actually had the detrimental effect that it could have, as these younger generations are much more about living in the moment and getting those coveted designer jeans as opposed to saving for a house they’ll never afford. But inflation and the cost of living is very real, and I believe the market that’s going to suffer the most is the mid-price range segment.
Carved in Blue: Is consumer interest in denim up, down or flat? And where do you see this going in the next year?
Amy: Yes, consumer interest is really high right now and that’s exciting! We can’t stay up forever though, and trends are like a pendulum, so I feel strongly that all this denim creativity will slow within the next five years.
Carved in Blue: How does Gen Z’s consumer behavior around denim compare to millennials, Gen X and baby boomers? What does this mean for denim retail?
Amy: I think I accidentally answered this above! I think Gen Z care more about coveted designer and luxury flexes or statement pieces bought from young creative peers and fledgling brands, so I imagine that middle of the road denim giants will suffer unless they really play into their brand DNA and push the envelope. We have already seen this shift happening with the “Avant Basic” movement and the era of collaboration to entice consumers.
Carved in Blue: How well is the denim industry paying attention to and serving consumer wants and needs?
Amy: I think brands do need to sit up and pay attention to the shift happening right now. Our Denim Dudes feed is saturated with this younger generation’s experimental nature, and to us, the movement is palpable. But I don’t see many mainstream denim brands doing enough to align and engage with this new creative class, and I believe that empowering them and supporting them is the key to success.
Carved in Blue: What could the industry do to move more wallet share toward denim?
Amy: Invest more in the new generation. I think there’s this egotistical opinion from brand executives that they know the retail landscape and if they stick to the same old formula, it’ll work out the way it always has. But we see a splitting off of values and approach between the generations, and Gen Z are just doing their own thing. Soon enough, if executive-level decision-makers haven’t woken up to the societal shifts happening in culture, their old formulas will fall further and further away from the new consumers’ habits and they’ll find themselves in trouble!
Janet Lui, senior manager, design and product development department, Crystal Apparel Limited (Hong Kong)
Carved in Blue: From your perspective, how is the denim market currently performing? What are the main factors you see affecting the market?
Janet: The denim market is still facing a tough situation at the moment. I’d believe it’s because of a lot of retailers are still having inventory in their warehouse; that makes the product buying become conservative. On the other hand, the market is not optimistic due to global inflation; this situation seems to last for a while.
Carved in Blue: How would you describe the level of consumer confidence compared to last year?
Janet: I reckon the consumers are still having a similar level of confidence compared to last year. The only difference is, they would think carefully that tend to purchase their goods more meaningfully and durable.
Carved in Blue: Is consumer interest in denim up, down or flat? And where do you see this going in the next year?
Janet: Although I’m hoping the consumer interest in denim would go steadily up, still, our denim community needs to put extra hard effort on this.
Carved in Blue: How does Gen Z’s consumer behavior around denim compare to millennials, Gen X and baby boomers? What does this mean for denim retail?
Janet: According to market research, the Gen Z is still our biggest portion consumer while the Alphas are growing. We could see both generations look for comfort product as basis the most, while emotionally, a product that is able to make them feel good. Denim people try to fight for balancing the market share with activewear, which has the most comfort and functionality, that I’d believe denim itself, fascinating and uniqueness washing able to attract the newer generation.
Carved in Blue: How well is the denim industry paying attention to and serving consumer wants and needs?
Janet: Sustainable materials and washing with transparent resources tracking are indispensable. Most enterprises including us, Crystal, have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050 in line with science-based targets to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement so as to limit global warming to well-below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5℃. Our consumers are nowadays thoughtfully noticing about what kind of product they have purchased. So that we need to well alert regarding the impact of the product chain on the ecology.
Carved in Blue: What could the industry do to move more wallet share toward denim?
Janet: We need to well study and understand our targeted consumers’ behavior in order to create and launch the right products in the market.
See part 2 here.