The exclusive distributor of the Rock & Republic line in Canada is accusing the company of eschewing an agreement that mandates the pricey denim only end up in the hands of select, high-end retailers – and instead funneling the clothes to Costco stores.

Simms Sigal & Co. has been distributing clothes made by Rock & Republic – which is currently under bankruptcy protection – to Canadian stores since 2006 and credits itself as having “single handedly built the brand into a multimillion dollar enterprise in Canada,” according to court papers. As part of its efforts, Simms has limited its focus to stores like Neiman Marcus, noting that it doesn’t want its customers confusing the expensive duds with clothes like – shudder – Gap brand jeans.

“Given its cachet, styling and pricing, Simms’ strategy, as required by its agreements with R&R, has been to focus its marketing and sales activities exclusively at ‘approved retailers’ consisting of first-class, upscale retail clothing boutiques and stores specializing in the sale of expensive designer garments,” Simms said.

Levi Strauss & Co. unveiled its new brand, dENiZEN™. The brand offers great fitting, quality jeanswear for a new generation of upwardly mobile youth. With its global headquarters located in Hong Kong, dENiZEN is the first brand from the company to debut outside the USA.

“This is the birth of a new history for Levi Strauss & Co. in Asia,” said Aaron Boey, president, Levi Strauss & Co. Asia Pacific Division. “The dENiZEN brand will offer our consumers what they have been looking for—stylish, well-made and comfortable clothes from a company they trust. With our 137 years of denim heritage and recognized jeans leadership in Asia, Levi Strauss & Co. is strongly positioned to meet this need among emerging middle class consumers in Asia.”

The new brand is designed for 18 to 28-year-olds who seek high-quality jeanswear and other fashion essentials at affordable prices. The product collection—including a variety of jeans, tops and accessories—complements active lifestyles and empowers consumers to express their aspirations, individuality and attitudes. To represent this new generation of consumers who inspired the development of the brand, the company is also introducing dENiZEN10, an innovative and unique pan-Asian social media project involving real people with unique personalities and individual voices.

Arvind Ltd., a supplier of denim to Levi Strauss & Co. and Gap Inc., expects annual sales to jump 23.5 percent as buyers in the U.S. and worldwide spend more on apparels, Chairman and Managing Director said.

Group sales at the world’s biggest denim maker may climb to 40 billion rupees ($855 million) in the year to March from 32.4 billion rupees a year ago, Lalbhai said in a telephone interview yesterday. Net income will show a “healthy” gain from 499.5 million rupees, he said, without giving a forecast.

“I see good times for textiles in India and most companies are currently enjoying a strong demand situation,” Lalbhai said. “The Indian middle class is growing and they have started to spend more money on grooming and on wardrobe.”

Arvind plans to spend 3 billion rupees this year to expand its yarn-dyed cotton shirting capacity, he said. The capacity to make denim will be expanded by 20 million meters to meet growing demand from the U.S. as the world’s largest economy revives from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Have you ever found yourself somewhere just thinking, damn I could use a new pair of jeans? Good news, a denim vending machine might just make these desires come true.

Closed, a jeans brand that provides designer styles based in Hamburg, has launched a denim vending prototype machine in Florence, Italy to see how people embrace jeans-on-the-go. If the concept seems to take off, the idea is that it will be setup in train stations, bus stations and airports around Europe so those jet-lagged and unclean can find themselves in a new and clean pair of jeans.

The Indonesian textile industry may benefit from the global crisis as buyers from US, EU and Japan relocate US$648 million of orders from China.

Indonesian Textile Association (API) deputy chairman Ade Sudrajat said Tuesday that relocated orders could amount to a total of US$648 million -- equivalent to about 6 percent of Indonesian's $10.8 billion total textile exports in 2008.

“This relocation of orders is partly triggered by social instability with crime figures in China increasing due to the impact of the global economic crisis, which has caused big manufacturers to collapse and massive unemployment,” Ade told reporters Tuesday, saying “Trade and investment are sensitive to security.”

Ade said that the more stable social and economic conditions in Indonesia had attracted buyers to relocate their orders to this country.

Could the shaky economy spell the end of $200 jeans?

With retail sales slowing, some makers of premium denim are worried that shopper appetite for jeans that cost $150 and up will disappear. Some are trimming retail prices while others are rolling out new styles that they feel are different enough to entice shoppers to buy. Kasil, a Los Angeles brand, for example, is introducing a pair of waterproof jeans for the holiday season that it says is so impervious to liquids that even spilled red wine will roll right off of it. The $189 jeans, named “Portland” after the notoriously rainy city, will hit stores next month.

Las Vegas is the center of the fashion industry from 12 to 15 February, as the MAGIC Marketplace attracts the top retailers, designers and manufacturers from around the globe. With more than 4,000 companies on display, the fashion industry's biggest business event features the most extensive selection of resources across apparel, accessories, footwear, sourcing and contact manufacturing.

"MAGIC continues to be committed to providing the most comprehensive marketplace in the industry and that will be on full display in Las Vegas," says the executive vice president of fashion for Advanstar Communications. The MAGIC Marketplace offers an unparalleled selection of quality merchandise and resources creating one of the most powerful business environments in fashion.

Seven For All Mankind, the seven-year-old Los Angeles denim company that helped usher in the era of $200 designer jeans, was sold yesterday to the VF Corporation for $775 million. VF Corp. the apparel company that owns jeans brands like Wrangler, Lee, Riders and Rustler.

VF Corporation said yesterday that it had acquired Lucy, a women's activewear company.

The two brands are the latest in VF's spree of acquisitions - it also owns Vans, Reef, Kipling and Napapijri and will serve as the foundation for a new unit of contemporary brands for the company. The moves may signal that VF plans to make more deals for fast-growing, high-profile apparel makers.
The acquisition of Seven For All Mankind will put VF squarely in the ultraluxury denim market, which did not exist a decade ago. VF's other denim brands, Lee and Wrangler, are positioned farther down the market.

There's nothing like a little anticipation to make life interesting. And this year, while some of the coming fashion trends feel a little conservative, much of the fashion technology feels very fresh.

It's been in the works for years, but now featherweight, "5-ounce" denim is coming to lines such as Rock and Republic and American Eagle. Current denim trousers are mostly made of 13 to 15 ounce denim fabric.

Made with engineered Tencel and natural cotton, the lightweight denim is half the weight of the stuff we're wearing now, making it much more comfortable year round.

Levi's was ready for the return to skinny and straight leg jeans in 2006. It promoted its 501 as the original straight leg for men. The new 504 is skinny and straight for women. "For years we took our eye off of innovation," Levis CEO said. "We weren't putting out the most stylish jeans lines.

Mexico's textile and apparel manufactures are caught in a bitter row over the benefits that the country's possible entry into the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) may bring to their respective trades.

Mexico is currently reviewing CAFTA-DR membership for all its industries as a way to expand trade ties with its Central American neighbors. The country has begun negotiations and hopes to reach a deal in the coming months.