I mean they are, aren’t they? These days it seems our tee shirts and Jeans tradition ships to us from lands far away. Yes, you guessed it, China.

Denim jeans are getting more and more expensive these days. The “trendy” kind at least. I literally remember buying my first pair of “Seven Jeans For All Mankind” at the Promenade in Santa Monica, CA just because I had “finally” found a perfect fit. I was back in California on business a week later and had loved my jeans so much, I ran to the store on my first opportunity to buy more.

GONE? They were GONE? ALL GONE!

I frantically asked the store keeper where these amazing jeans had walked off to and she explained that they pulled them off their shelves a day before because they went “fred segal exclusive”. What?

For those with no clue who Fred Segal is and how he had the power to take the jeans off the shelves at Urban Outfitters… It’s a hip, trend-setting California department store. No, probably not the kind of department store you are picturing now. It has a high-class flavor all it’s own, a flavor with a large price tag. Fred Segal has the ability to launch a mini-brand into Hollywood must-have overnight. Once it has hits the tabloid magazines on Jennifer Aniston, or some other celebrity it quickly attains mass market popularity.

Suddenly Sevens went from $70 to $120-$150. These days (five years later) the buzz jeans are sometimes up to $350! (For the record I’m still wearing my old Sevens ;)!)

The increase of denim brands in the designer price range has revived one, previously shut down, North Caroline Denim factory. [Thank you Carol for the hat tip]. In her article for the Charlotte Observer, High Hopes for the High End Dreams, Jen Arnoff details a ray of hope amidst the news around dangerous Chinese exports. Please go read the article now and be as encouraged as I am.

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