Levi's jean lawsuits makes front page NYT

[minimal]

Includes slideshow! (but nothing good if you're hoping to see the next great pair...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/29jeans.html

Basically, a story of how a company missed opportunity after opportunity. Pretty sad, but they had every advantage a company could have. There's a mesage in there somewhere...

 

[DNW]

They couldn't use some help from books written by the silicon valley crowd. Levi's wasn't hungry enough, it got complacent. Also, arcuate isn't everything.

 

[vanity]

They've had a store here on Michigan Avenue for years that's sold jeans well over $150. But when you're just a block away from Saks, spending that kind of money for Levis is laughable. Add in the tourist-crowd that shops Michigan Avenue and it's even worse.

It's not like they placed the store in some trendy/hipster neighborhood where people would know and respect Levi's history. They put it right where they'd be against Rock N Republic, 7FMK, Diesel, True Religion, etc.

If someone from out of town buys a $300 pair of jeans on Michigan Aveneue, it sure as hell won't be Levis. It'll be something they can't get back home.

 

[vanity]

And thinking about it more, I'm not sure if Levis could ever do anything to sway me to pay more than $40 for their jeans. My entire life they've been cheap, beat-around, work jeans. Their entire image is that of affordability.

It's like Lacoste. I grew up wearing lacoste and not even 10 years ago it was still on the discount racks at Sears and Kmart. No amount of rebranding, marketing, or cost-changing will ever sway my to buy that brand. How could I pay $70 for a golfshirt that less than a decade ago was on racks at Sears?

 

[knucks]

Originally Posted by vanity

And thinking about it more, I'm not sure if Levis could ever do anything to sway me to pay more than $40 for their jeans. My entire life they've been cheap, beat-around, work jeans. Their entire image is that of affordability. It's like Lacoste. I grew up wearing lacoste and not even 10 years ago it was still on the discount racks at Sears and Kmart. No amount of rebranding, marketing, or cost-changing will ever sway my to buy that brand. How could I pay $70 for a golfshirt that less than a decade ago was on racks at Sears?
what about their lvc?^

 

[vanity]

what's lvc?

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by vanity

what's lvc?

Levi's Vintage Company, their highest end line, sold only through their own-brand stores and select specialty retailers. Essentially fairly faithful reproductions of either found vintage pieces or of vintage designs. Range from moderately expensive ($150 or so) to very expensive ($500 or so.)

 

[vanity]

Originally Posted by LA Guy

Levi's Vintage Company, their highest end line, sold only through their own-brand stores and select specialty retailers. Essentially fairly faithful reproductions of either found vintage pieces or of vintage designs. Range from moderately expensive ($150 or so) to very expensive ($500 or so.)

Personally I still wouldn't pay for them. But I also wouldn't pay $50k for a vintage Ford mustang. The brand to me is ****, so it's age is irrelevant.

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by vanity

Personally I still wouldn't pay for them. But I also wouldn't pay $50k for a vintage Ford mustang. The brand to me is ****, so it's age is irrelevant.

But you've never seen the jeans, dude. They are actually pretty well made, and they usually use the Cone Mills selvedge denim, which is pretty good quality. Prices, especially for the raw jeans (about $150) are also quite reasonable.

 

[whacked]

Originally Posted by vanity

It's not like they placed the store in some trendy/hipster neighborhood where people would know and respect Levi's history. They put it right where they'd be against Rock N Republic, 7FMK, Diesel, True Religion, etc.
From what I could gather during my short time on this forum, there's no doubt the denim heads here would pick Levi's LVC line over any of the brands you mentioned.

 

[tljenkin]

Levi's should pray that my Studio D'Artisan's are mistaken for their product.

 

[Tck13]

Originally Posted by DarkNWorn

They couldn't use some help from books written by the silicon valley crowd. Levi's wasn't hungry enough, it got complacent.

+1

I think there got to be "too many hands in the pie". Too many people sucking up the size and success (just collecting a paycheck) and they just couldn't move fast enough when denim exploded.

Executives at Levi’s concede they missed important fashion trends as the denim industry ballooned over the last several years, but they deny the lawsuits are connected to any downturn in their business.

I give this the "Understatement of the Year" award.

I used to love Levis and wear them religiously until they just lost it. The rinses, fabric, distribution. Levi's are like Mike Tyson. You really want them to get their act together and be the greatest again but it just ain't gonna happen.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Originally Posted by LA Guy

But you've never seen the jeans, dude. They are actually pretty well made, and they usually use the Cone Mills selvedge denim, which is pretty good quality. Prices, especially for the raw jeans (about $150) are also quite reasonable.

The US made LVCs use cone mills and the 55s (raw) are very good repros. It would be hard to find a more acurate repro as far as denim weight, cut, texture. Some of their buckle backs are really nice to though I'm not crazy about some of the stuff from the 03 line but the early 555 stuff and some of the new stuff looks really good.

 

[nastyandy]

Quite honestly I think that many of the Japanese brands had this coming.

The resolution will be that they will finally begin to develop their own brand identites the way Evisu did with the 'gulls' (which probably started as painted on arcuates), and the same people who would buy Japanese denim anyway will still do so, and it just may turn out to be a good thing for some of these brands.

 

[Nick M]

You can tell Levi's is way behind the curve based on the fact that they sued Von Dutch six months ago.

Von Dutch? Really? Had they done anything of note in the prior six months? The last couple years?