Wrangler

Denim brand Wrangler has joined forced with Lizzie Jagger (daughter of Rolling Stone Mick Jagger) to create a line of jeans that contain a moisturizing treatment in the denim. The jeans come with three different moisturizers: aloe vera, olive extract, and a “smooth legs” version that promises to combat cellulite. The New York Post says the moisturizing agent is bound directly to the denim fibers with heat. The jeans, which look like they’re only sold in the UK right now, cost about $135 when you factor in the exchange rate.

And how do you care for a pair of jeans with lotion in them? You don’t wash them very often. And once you do, you spray them with more lotion. (Lotion sold separately.)

Asos will be selling the jeans on January 28. Will you buy a pair?

When it comes to jean shopping, we all strive for a fit that will not only have us looking great, but also make our rear-views look stellar—bootylicious if you will. But when you’re unaware of your body type and disregard what works for you, a preventable denim disaster could be lurking right in the fitting room. Who wants to walk around with unwarranted muffin tops, super short legs, and a pancake-like tush? So too keep you from having the denim blues, here are a few easy and quick tips (by body type) for you to keep in mind and take along with you when your shopping for this fall season’s hottest denim trends.

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We know you love your boring blue jeans—they go with everything, fit like a glove, and well, you’ve had them forever. While we urge that every wardrobe should include a timeless pair of denim blues, (we’re aware of their lasting power) this fall we would like to encourage you all to jump out on the deep end of the jean pool and embrace a few new fashionable denim styles this season. With cutting edge treatments, to futuristic textures, and flattering fits, Levi Strauss would be proud—the American cult classic has been modernized and reinvented into something chic and new again.

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npr.com

One of the most international businesses in the world is fashion, and it has once again proved itself that in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Thousands of African immigrants, many of them small-scale clothing traders from Nigeria, have come seeking business opportunities there and have naturally made it their home.They trade and buy clothing, apparel and accessories from the merchants in China and then ship them back to Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, were the real profit is made.

Although the Little Africa neighborhood in Guangzhou is dominated by African immigrants who run the shops and stalls, many customers are Chinese who welcome their business. Read the full story here…

Do you think the business of Fashion crosses all color lines?

From the woman who struggles finding the right fit due to her curvy figure, to the one who struggles because she’s a bit shorter than the norm, every woman has had trouble finding the right pair of jeans. Fast Company details that the problem with finding the right size is a lack of diversity when it comes to designing jeans. Retailers use “fit models,” women between sizes 2 and 6 to craft their jean sizes; even though the average woman in the US wears a size 14. But it’s from the frustration to find the right jean size and fit that INDI Custom Jeans was born.

INDi is an innovative company that creates a unique pair of jeans for each of its customers. Users simply go online, pick their fit and style and fill out the body profile. Jeans are then sewn and made uniquely for each person.

“Jeans shopping is tough; 70% of women and 40% of men say they wish they had jeans that fit,” Ali Fenn, the company’s head of marketing tells Fast Company. “It’s also emotional for people. People have their own body issues. There’s something about being able to go through this process online in a way that you wouldn’t go through in a brick-and-mortar.”

INDi helps to give customers a one-of-a-kind fit that is saved for future shopping, and familiarizes them with using technology and e-commerce in a new kind of way. The INDi team is a combination of people with a myriad of experiences working in fashion and retail as well as members familiar with various social media and technology companies.

It’s an idea that can change the way people currently shop, if they grow comfortable with the idea. Fenn hopes that one day, there will be equal space in the market world for custom fit products like INDi, and the traditionally shopping experience.

“Ultimately, they need to merge,” she says. “On the one hand, going and trying on a bunch of clothes with friends…is a good thing. On the other hand, you don’t find something that fits great, or you are 20 pounds heavier than someone else, it can be not so fun.”

As black women, we come in an assortment of beautiful tones, shapes and sizes. Still, let’s face it, the average woman is NOT a size zero and there’s nothing wrong with that! In addition, some of us – skinny minis included – are blessed with a little more ‘junk in the trunk’ than others. This blessing can seem more like a curse when it comes to finding garments that fit, especially jeans. We all have our favorite pair of jeans. The ones that look great dressed up or down and make our butt look like a work of art. The saying, “Too much of a good thing” doesn’t apply here. We’re here to help you find a great pair that is constructed specifically with curvy ladies in mind. Click through the slideshow to find recommendations and tips on picking the perfect pair. Who can pass on good jeans?

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

Huge price tags on designer jeans are commonplace, a sign of an era in which high-end denim is worn to communicate individual style. We can all remember when paying $50 for a pair of Levi’s was the average, and the vast majority of today’s market still consists of denim priced in that range. Yet, of the $13.8 billion jeans market, an elite 1% of customers are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for what used to be considered workman’s threads. These jeans consumers — known as the premium denim market — might be interested in knowing what goes into designer brands like True Religion and Gucci that can cost them $200-700.

In exchange for their steep investment, fashion-conscious men and women receive jeans with runway-inspired designs manufactured in the U.S.A. In addition to the higher overhead required to produce clothing in the United States, manufacturers add a tremendous markup to the costs of producing their lines — as much as 260%. The Wall Street Journal reports:

It costs about $50 to make a pair of Super T jeans, True Religion’s best-selling style with oversized white stitching, estimates founder, chairman and chief executive, Jeff Lubell. The wholesale price is $152, he says, and the average retail price is $335. Of course, plenty of these jeans sell at substantially less than full price. [...]

As with all fashion, a big part of the price of luxury denim is in the multiple profit margins taken at each level of production. Most any piece of clothing contains parts and services from potentially dozens of providers: from fabric and button makers, to designers and seamstresses, and wholesalers and sales agents. After all this, designers and retailers say the typical retail markup on all fashion items, including jeans, ranges from 2.2 to 2.6 times cost.

The detailed stitching on fancy pockets and funky metal rivets added by many premium jean brands are also rendered by hand in America or Mexico by workers paid far more than their Chinese counterparts. But don’t feel sorry for luxury denim manufacturers. They pass the cost of stylish embellishments right on to consumers. The result? Luxury jean makers receive a 40-50% margin of return on each sale, compared to 20% for regular jeans.

Of course, high-end denim sales are such a small fraction of the overall market that the larger profits garnered might seem necessary. The design expertise, expensive ad campaigns, and hand-rendering of details have to be paid for — and 1% of the market wouldn’t otherwise cut it without huge profit margins built into the prices.

But still, there is some evidence that premium denim makers are using the gullible desires of fashionistas to seem hip to turn a quick buck.

True Religion is planning the release of an even more expensive model than it typically produces called the Phantom, which will retail for as much as $375. At almost 400 bucks, the Phantom will actually lack all the involved embroidery of their best-selling jeans, costing more money even though the labor will be less. It is true that costs like raw luxury denim, which is produced in the United States by well-paid workers, might be a factor in such a steep price. But the fact is this company will be charging consumers more money to do less than it usually does for a similar product.

True Religion knows people will buy these jeans, because they are cool and new, and a fat price tag just makes them cooler to brand-conscious people. Exploiting that fact to make more money points to pure greed. And in America, greater profits are always their own justification.

For the thick mesdames out there, you know finding the perfect pair of jeans takes way more effort than it should. If it fits your hips, it gaps on your waist! Problem. Black Voices has compiled some tips so you won’t look like a stuffed sausage or even worse walking around with a droopy booty in your denim. Check out these tips here.

(WSJ.com) — Rock & Republic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month, when it didn’t have the funds to pay a loan coming due. And Miss Sixty, whose British unit went through the U.K. equivalent of bankruptcy, this week announced it would shutter half its 20 U.S. stores.

Now, experts say the explosion of designer denim brands (even Justin Timberlake is in on the game) is facing its day of reckoning.

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