DON’T BET ON IT
By Liz Gunn || I saw a headline today about declining denim sales. One news outlet interprets the six percent decline in denim sales coupled by the seven percent increase in yoga and active wear sales to mean that denim could be on the way out.
Sorry, but no. Here is why.
I have never been a huge fan of denim. Ironically, I have no less than twenty (yes, twenty!) pairs of designer jeans in my closet. Like most women I have a handful that are my favorites, but it’s proof that clearly I have been on the hunt for the perfect pair. I have yet to find the perfect pair, because like the perfect child of the perfect husband – it doesn’t exist.
Women do not wear jeans because they are comfortable. They wear them because it is what’s in style. They wear this pair because it makes them look skinny. They wear that pair because it makes their butt look smaller.
Yoga pants and active wear, however, are both comfortable and (can be) flattering when selected properly. But you can’t wear yoga pants to your kid’s school play, to a nice dinner, to happy hour with the girls…I mean I guess you can, but please don’t.
Yoga pants serve a purpose, and it isn’t necessarily to do yoga. They’re easy and comfortable. Jeans serve a different purpose. One cannot be replaced by another.
My kneejerk reaction to this story is that the increase in yoga pants and active wear sales is due to their rising prices and people’s increased willingness to pay those prices. Have you ever heard of Lululemon Athletica? They sell yoga pants at an average ticket price of about a hundred dollars. And they sell a lot of them. You know why? Because it has become increasingly trendy to own a pair of high end yoga pants.
Fifteen years ago, the thought of spending a hundred dollars on workout pants would have sent people running for the hills. Surely the sky must be falling! Thirty years ago, the same thing applied to denim.
But the industry was able to change people’s mindset, and in turn change their buying habits. Jeans were no longer seen as something for cowboys or men working construction. They managed to make jeans sexy, and the rest is history.
Clearly the active wear industry took a page from that same playbook. Good for them! Will they replace the denim industry? No. Are people buying less denim because they’re buying more yoga pants? Doubtful. In today’s material world, where people buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like, I assure you that women who can afford pricey jeans and yoga pants will have both. Mark my word.
Liz Gunn is a wife, mom, author, businesswoman, travel enthusiast, food snob, fashionista, lover of great wine and the No. 1 Gamecock football fan … ever. A graduate of the University of South Carolina, she lives in Columbia, S.C. with her husband and daughter.
40 comments
WTF is this shit?
I think Liz is trying to bring a sense of fashion to the site. It’s watering down the expected political content. Look, now I have 3 posts on this wtf article.
Looks like Will’s reporting days are over and he’s farming everything out. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. If I want to read Brad Warthen style reporting I’ll go with the oriiginal, at least we know where his liberal views stand, even if he say’s he’s not a Democrat or Republican… he just has more Democrats as friends.
Will’s continuing (and accelerating) decline into Redbook / Cosmo territory. He’s just a couple of stamps away from losing his Man Card forever. I’m calling Burt Reynolds right now to get a ruling from the Men of the Square Table…
http://youtu.be/8RLCD-PpWqU
Can anyone show me where the tie tacks are?
Oddly enough its the only story on Will’s site that is accurate and informative.
I can not see paying 40 to 45 bucks for a pair of Levi’s. They don’t hold up long to wear anymore. You get a better bargain with a pair of Wranglers that will outlast Levi’s by miles. But aside from that, the climate in the south is just too warm or too hot most days to be sporting a pair of jeans. People want to be comfortable. Thinner, more breathable clothing seems to be the trend. But for those who need rugged work wear, seems jeans are still the thing.
Levi’s are comfy, but you’re right, they don’t hold up. I’ve had better luck with Lee jeans than Wranglers, though, but it’s a bit annoying because you have to look for a good sale/coupon to get them for a better price. It is what it is.
It’s pretty funny that most people find $45 for a pair of jeans to be steep when there are people out there spending hundreds for a pair.
That big plastic ass patch on Wranglers is the real selling point. It just screams “classy!”.
I prefer Carhartt. They’re what Levi’s used to be pre-1990.
Where you been? try 80 – 100 for the good ones. 40 – 45 is what you find on the bargain racks.
Of course, that’s for the stretchy ones that show camel toe, not that I notice.
Levi’s. They don’t hold up long to wear anymore.
This.
Levi’s rock!
Leggings worn as pants, yoga pants, and gym shorts are collectively, the most unattractive clothes ever seen on women. There is a reason why fat women and girls traditionally wear big dresses. Please spare the public from having to view your gigantic legs and asses. How on earth could any chubby female feel stylish with a near-naked presentation of her jiggling butt? And no, the fact that they are black is not at all “slimming”, you’re not fooling anybody. Wear the moo moo!!
Common Latin American style, doesn’t matter what size you are, yoga pants, tights, spandex, whatever you call them are the rage. There are a few that do them justice, but most are just ugly. Camel toe hell, them thar be moose knuckles.
Unfortunately, it is coming north and invading the US.
It is fine if the person wearing them has the shape, but in SC, it’s just obscene.
99.9% of the girls wearing these obscene spandex horrors are flaunting their butts and bellies as some sort of sick statement of “confident” womanhood. Push away!, Push away!, from the table, I say!!!!
Jeezus. This is even more worthless than the usual raft of articles fellating T-Rav.
Attacking the writer of the article speaks volumes as to who you are. Narcissistic personality disorder, are people who have to put you down to make themselves feel better. They are 85% alcoholics or drug addicts, and 15% were raised by people who put them down as children and made them feel small, thus they have to put you down to make themselves feel big. There is nothing you can do to help these people because they think they are right and the world is all wrong, so they don’t see anything wrong with their behavior. They don’t have the problem, you do – as in “You” ………… Now come back with your normal Dis account so I can point you out.
Thanks for the postcard from the edge. Are you the author, T-Rav’s baby Mama, or someone who finally got Internet access at the mental health facility? Good luck.
Methinks you hit a nerve on that homeboy! Either that, or his mom was screaming at him to come up and take out the trash.
Great, now Dr. Phil is on here.
I appreciate that! :)
Ha, you think jeans are uncomfortable. Try on a pair with a medium sized cucumber wedged in the crotch and get back to us. For close simulation use one that is about 3 or 4 weeks old.
Why would you do this?
‘Cause he doesn’t have an E Norma Scok, evidently…
Medium sized cucumber 3 or 4 weeks old
——
Or a dead 3 year old Burmese Python
Liz, you didn’t even discuss “camel toe”.
Or minding the gap.
And that ain’t the gap where one might buy said jeans.
How about an article for us guys about codpieces?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Oderus-urungus-04.jpg/420px-Oderus-urungus-04.jpg
Finally 2 great ideas combined. ISIS and Ice Bucket Challenge.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/variety/2014/08/31/Video-shows-mock-ISIS-Bucket-Challenge-.html
Texas Jeans, Gastonia ,NC
Pointer Brand, Bristol,TN
Diamond Cut, Bon Aqua,TN
Round House, OK
All have reported substantial increase in sales over the last few years.
The numbers in the article are for the denim industry as a whole. I’m sure there are specific brands of active wear that saw a loss, too.
BUY AMERICAN!
ECONOMIC PATRIOTISM!
You have no less than 20 pairs, and yet you are no “fan” of denim? You are like my wife. She hates shoe shopping, which is why when she shops for shoes, she buys at least four pair.
OFTEN.
Maybe she has 20 pairs because her ass outgrows them and she has to buy a bigger pair.
“They wear that pair because it makes their butt look smaller.” Thinking of my lovely wife, the best jeans don’t make her butt look small: they make it look nice. See?
Women have a right to expect comfort when wearing fashionable jeans. We want to let women know that you can have comfort with fashion.
http://www.marcallisonjeans.com/shop/news/Athleisure-marc-allison-jeans/
info@marc allison jeans:disqus .com
Where can one purchase? Price point? Would love to try a pair.
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thank you – I am going to check these out now!