Selling $300 Jeans In A Down Economy
A little over five years ago, Michael Ball looked at his then-girlfriend’s expensive jeans and decided he could design a much better pair himself.
Not long after, Ball, who had no fashion design experience, did just that, creating an ultra-slim fitting line that caught on with the celebrity set in Los Angeles.
Having stirred interest, he got financial backing, suppliers, and manufacturers together and began selling his high-end jeans for $300 from specialty stores within the city. A cult following soon developed.
Since then, Ball has turned his idea into Rock & Republic, a $300 million brand of men’s and women’s jeans that now includes cosmetics, accessories, shoes, and other clothing lines that are sold in 86 countries.
His long-term goal is to create a far-reaching lifestyle brand that includes boutique hotels and restaurants and a domestic airline. Ball says he is far from done.
According to market researcher NPD Group, denim is an $11 billion industry in the U.S. and has been growing at around a 5 percent to 7 percent clip in recent years.
Premium labels such as Rock & Republic now account for a 7 percent chunk of the total market.
“Consumers will pay $300 for the right pair of jeans,” says Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst. “They see it as an investment.”
Moreover, Cohen says, “certain denim brands have made it their focus to be a game-changer. They make you feel really great and you will pay twice as much for those.
What [Ball] is able to do is get the consumer of many different age segments and deliver on the implied promise that these jeans will make your life better, you will feel better.”
Even in an economic downturn, Cohen calls denim “recession-resistant.” “People are going to make significant changes,” he says. “They don’t have a lot of money in their pockets.
They may not buy three pairs, but they will buy one pair and it has to be about who has the right message.”
Photo by Rock & Republic.
Home Based Business on December 18th, 2008 7:11 pm
People can do just about whatever they want. I remember reading something on purpose, which people stuggle with, purpose in life, business, what ever. People today look in a ready made package type “direction” …Should I be a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer. The article challenge the ideoloy by stating Michealangelo knew his purpose was to be himself and he did and look what happened. No script, no plan.
Doing the impossible seems to happen regularly around people who are doing “what they most want to do” or working from center.
Cool post!!
Thanks Joe.
cassy on December 19th, 2008 1:00 am
people dont mine about the economy now,because no one can stop them to do what they want to do,and we all know most people likes to buy a new jeans coz for them it is important to have a new style of jeans.for new look and new design.like me i buy if there is a new style os jeans in the market. that is what we call a life style that is hard to stop.
Jaclyn on December 19th, 2008 6:46 pm
I don’t know about most people…but in today’s economy i have cut down on a lot of my spending, especially having a 6 month old first baby. and one of the thing’s i cut down is spending money on myself…i have three pair’s of jeans that are about 4 year’s old and still look and fit great! and even if the economy wasn’t so bad and i had a lot more money then i do now…there is no way i would pay 300 dollars for a pair of pants! i can go to wal-mart and get a whole new wardrobe for that amount of money and the clothes will still look great and last a long time.
Leave a Reply