The Asian Wall Street Journal    2003.7.7.A6

In Asia, Blue Jeans Are Red Hot

Female Consumers Dictate Trend Toward Dressier Denim, Sparking Battle for Share of Soaring Sales   

 By Cris Prystay    

The off pair of weekend-wear jeans have always lurked at the back of Chin Chelliah’s closet.  But these days, denim is spilling out the front door.

Ms. Chelliah, who shops everywhere from flea markets to designer boutiques, bought eight pairs of jeans in the last year alone.  Most are top-end brands like Seven, Earl and Marc Jacobs.

“In the past, jeans weren’t as feminine as they are now,” says Ms. Chelliah, 33 years old, who owns Asiatique Collections, a teak furniture store in Singapore.  “These days, jeans are quite an important staple in my wardrobe.”

Across Asia, women are hanging up their designer dresses and snug slacks in favor of blue jeans, a trend that has refashioned the region’s denim market.  About 18 months ago, women began buying more jeans than men in Asia, according to market research conducted by Levi Strauss & Co.

That reversal has sent clothing companies scrambling to get a piece of a market they can’t afford to ignore.  Asia’s jeans market grew to about US$7 billion last year from $6.4 billion in 2001, according to market-wide estimates by Levi Strauss.  The jeans market in the U.S., in contrast, shrank 8% to $10.1 billion last year, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based STS Research.

“The low-rise jeans trend really hit Asia in a big way.  It’s opened our eyes to the buying power of the female consumer,” says Steve Castledine, vice president of Levi Strauss’s Asia Pacific Division.

Feminine Style

The trend is due in part to the changing tastes and growing incomes of Asian women-and in part to the wild success of low-cut, hip-hugging jeans.  The tight, curvy look suited slim Asian figures particularly well, making it accessible to an even broader audience here.  The sexy style also served as an important bridge: Asian women tend to dress in a more feminine way than their Western counterparts, one reason that jeans haven’t been a major staple here in the past.  The jeans that have driven sales lately, however, have been very girly: embroidered, or knee-length, or slung low on the hips, emphasizing curves.  Asian women, meanwhile, have dressed up their jeans, rather than viewing jeans as a way to dress own.

“Asian women want to be very feminine.  Every showroom I go to, when I look at what we buy for Asia compared to buyers from Europe or America, I notice that we always buy more of the flowery pieces, the more sexy pieces,” says Douglas Benjamin, managing director of FJ Benjamin Holdings LTD., which manages brands like Guess, Gucci, Ungaro, Valentino and La Perla in South-east Asia.

“The way we sell denim reflects that. Women are wearing sexy denim bottoms and very soft-looking tops.  That whole look, with a high-heeled shoe, is what Asian women are all about.

Denim’s return comes at a time when young Asian women are earning and spending more than ever before.  In Hong Kong, women comprised 26% of the $20,000 to $30,000 per month salary segment in 2001, compared with 17% in 1995, according to ACNielson.  Singapore’s UOB Bank says women who hold its Ladies’ Credit Card, which is marketed to career-oriented women aged 25-35, charge about 30% more than regular credit-card holders.

Asian women have been plunking down their cash for jeans, and now clothing makers are fighting for a share of the soaring Asian sales.

Brands like Billabong, Guess, Calvin Klein and Giordano have all scaled up their women’s jeans offerings in Asia the past two years.  Others are looking for new ways to talk to those women, as well.

Levi’s, for example, has revamped its entire Asian marketing program to better woo women.  Although the company’s research showed that Asian women overall are buying more than men, they still account for just 30% of the company’s own sales in Asia.  The chief problem: its macho image.

Asian women “have an overwhelming impression that Levi’s won’t provide the right style for them,” says Mr. Castledine.  Little wonder, since most of Levi’s ads in Asia have featured male models and been directed at the male audience.  Little wonder, since most of Levi’s ads in Asia have featured male models and been directed at the male audience.

This year, the majority of Levi’s Asian ads will target women, according to the company’s agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty.  Levi’s also opened two pilot girl-only stores, in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, in April and May, and is scaling up the number of new styles introduced per year, outstripping even the number of new women’s products launched each year in the U.S.

“Women shop more; the degree of newness is important,” says Mr. Castledine.

Women who buy Levi’s jeans this month in Singapore get a free Internet account with a local service provider and an invite to what the company bills” a very girly party” at a popular nightclub.  In one upcoming regional campaign women who simply try a pair of Levi’s on will get a free four-track CD.

Mixed Expectations

Hong-Kong-based retail chain Giordano International Ltd., which has a large presence throughout Asia, has been expanding its women’s denim line for two years.  The company, known for its cotton casuals, only sold men’s jeans until 1994.”  Now, we have more ladies’ [jeans] than men’s, “says Janice Ngai, the company’s regional buying director.  Since last year, about 70% of the jeans on the shelves in most stores this year are for women.

Retailers are mixed on whether Asia can sustain its jeans sales in the face of the slump in the U.S.

Analysts in the U.S. say last year’s slump in denim sales indicates that the jeans craze there may be on the wane.

 “It’s not selling as strong this year,” concedes Simon Hughes, chief operating officer of Calvin Klein Jeans Asia, which began selling more denim to women then men in the region in 2002.  The company opened 27 stores in China in the past 18 months, and plans eight more by the end of the year.  “Whether that’s because of SARS or a broader trend, we’re not sure.  But we’re being cautious on denim.”

Others think jeans may prove longer –lasting.  “As a result of two very strong years in denim there may be saturation,” says Laura Wenke, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Lane Crawford, a high-end Hong Kong-based department store that operates in Singapore and China as well.

Still, Ms. Wenke has ordered yet even more women’s jeans this year, adding new high-end names, like Joe’s Jeans and Yanuk, both U.S. brands, and French-made Corleone to its women’s jeans line, which includes Earl, Seven and Diesel.  Denim, she reckons, will be incorporated into future trends, like cargo-style or cropped pants, which will help support jeans sales.

That confidence is borne out by consumers like Patricia Yuen.  A 36-year-old dermatologist in Singapore, she has bought a pair of jeans each month for the past year and a half.  Her favorites are low cut jeans by Seven and Helmut Lang.  “I love the way they make me feel,” says Dr. Yuen, who normally shops at Jil Sander and Prada for conservative workday clothes.  “They’re low-waisted, they’re snug.  They fit well, and they make you feel good.”

Dr. Yuen’s latest purchase was a pair of embroidered cotton cargo pants, but she still loves denim.  “Cargo is certainly in,” she says. “But nothing beats jeans.”