Net-A-Porter launched a new online denim section on its site today.  The denim on denim trend has been gaining momentum, but it appeared fleeting at first.  Net-A-Porter’s new online boutique is a sign that it will be around a lot longer than many anticipated.  Here we have the trend done right, it’s a Victoria Beckham Jeans cut-off shorts and hooded vest.  A lighter fabric and hue gives this look a modern and updated vibe.  The look would become questionable in a heavier fabric of a darker monochromatic hue; that would take this trend from trendy to country in a flash.  So guard against becoming a fashion victim by choosing wisely.  If you want to get on the denim trend, Net-A-Porter has you covered with Stella McCartney, Victoria Beckham Jeans, J. Brand, D&G among others. 

Net-A-Porter Opens Denim Boutique [Elle UK]

Rock & Republic has fallen victim to an economy that has lost its appetite for $300 jeans.  The high-end designer denim company filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy protection yesterday.  Back in November of 2009 we wrote a post titled Do These Skinny Jeans Make My Credit Card Bill Fat?  We now have an answer to the question posed, and it is a resounding yes.  The post referred to the high price of denim jeans, and evidence was already mounting that lower-priced denim were favored by consumers.   Even the most fashionable and trendy men and women are now cautious about their spending when comes to jeans.  The post came from a New York Times article Preshrunk Prices which dealt with the pricing resistance denim designers and retailers were facing from consumers.  Rock & Republic is sold in high-end retail stores like Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.

Rock & Republic files Chapter 11 bankruptcy  [Reuters]

Preshrunk Prices  [NYT Style]

Related Post: Do These Skinny Jeans Make My Credit Card Bill Fat?

Denim jeans have a history rooted back to the days of gold mining when they were made almost exclusively for hard labor.  Flash forward over a hundred years and the cotton denim of yore has been morphed into high priced designer duds. 

Jeans now come in straight, skinny, boyfriend and even jeggings and, as of about two years ago, they would have cost you between $300 to $1,000.  Why you might ask?  Well apparently many have been asking themselves that very question because they stopped investing in those high priced jeans. 

The recession has adversely affected the designer jeans market, and the once sky-rocketing prices are now returning to earth.  “Charging $600 for jeans for no reason at all — those days are over,” said You Nguyen, the senior vice president of women’s merchandising and design for Levi Strauss & Company.  Levi Strauss is no stranger to the denim market being the originator of  blue denim jeans here in America. 

Consumers have a range of choices from Gap jeans at about $60 to a variety of designer denim now at an average of about $200.  It’s the old story of supply and demand, once the demand fell, so did the prices.  The designers rode a wonderful wave for a while, but all good things must come to an end.

Now companies are looking for ways to re-interpret and transform blue jeans, and to make them desirable once again.  I’m sure they will succeed in their efforts, but will they ever return to the free for all pricing of the past decade?  That still remains to be seen.

Preshrunk Jeans [NYT/Style]