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LOS ANGELES -- It's easy to see why skateboarding has become a sport of choice among young men. Not only is it less expensive than other board sports like snowboarding and surfing, but skaters can pursue their their hobby regardless of local terrain or climate.
Spurred by the growing interest in skateboarding tricks for beginners , a bounty of apparel companies have begun catering to the skate market. Brands like Volcom, Hurley and Element have emerged as skateboard-specific labels and are distributed through specialty stores that cater to that customer.
Denim has long been one of skateboarding's preferred fabrics, primarily because of its durability in this oft rough-and-tumble sport. But until recently skaters' denim choices had been limited; most skate jeans were no more complicated than a basic dark denim with a loose fit.
Now that participation has increased, however, skaters seek more sophistication from their labels, and brands are stepping up to the plate with more fashion-driven styles. "Durability was the original reason to wear denim, but now it's turned into a skate fashion," explains Tom Ruiz, vice-president of sales for Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Volcom, which offers five jean bottoms in three to four washes, including the popular vintage khaki rinse. Volcom is also doing well with its twisted-seam Ergo jeans.
"We've offered denim for the past 10 years," says Ruiz, "but really focused on it for the past four years by increasing the styles and washes in the line. Denim currently accounts for about 60 percent of our business, and at this point we're just looking to refine it."
At Hurley International, design innovations have helped sales of the Hurley Denim line double each year since the collection was introduced three years ago, according to Lian Murray, director of design and merchandising.
"The size [of Hurley Denim] is increasing because the styles are increasing. We find that kids are really receptive to change and newness, which gives us a lot of freedom to design a lot of fashion denim," says Murray, adding that special considerations must be taken into account when designing denim bottoms for a skateboarder.
"It is always fashion mixed with function," explains Murray, adding that whisker washes, sandblasting and engineered looks were doing well. "You want them to look good on the body, but they have to be comfortable. If it says it's a 32, it might actually be a 33, but that's a secret. For our summer line we're doing some denim that has stretch [2 percent] in it for guys, and the kids are really into that."
Hurley also pulled a feature from the urban and club markets by adding a tiny Velcro-closure pocket hidden on the jean's inseam.
Irvine, Calif.-based Element is another skate apparel (and hard goods) brand that is now offering denim blended with 2 to 4 percent Lycra in its Element Flex Denim program.
"When they're skating, they can't have their pants be locked up," says design director Alex De La Pena. "It has to be loosened. The crotch has to be a little more givable, a little more relieving. That's specifically why we do a flex denim."
What's more, baggy skate jeans aren't what they used to be.
"Of course there's that guy who wants a baggy look, but it's toned down a lot," says Vince DeLaPena, marketing director for board sport brand Ezekiel (based in Irvine, Calif.), which has offered seven to nine denim bottom styles for the past four seasons. what size skateboard should i get
"What's doing well is more like a 501 cut," agrees Jim Bob Hume, buyer for Everett, Wash.-based Zumiez, a skate and snowboard retail chain with approximately 80 stores, mostly in the Northwest. "It's probably harder to skate in those goofy boy pants than in tight jeans anyway."
Hume added that denim sales are not growing at the same pace as hard goods, "but denim's definitely hot, so sales are up right now and growing."
In fact, at Pacific Sunwear stores, skate and surf have swapped retail dominance, according to Tim Harmon, president and chief merchandising officer for the 549-unit retail chain.
"Our skate brands section is the fastest-growing segment of our business," says Harmon, adding that PacSun's skate apparel business (mostly branded T-shirts and hooded fleece) was up 35 percent from a year ago. "It's basically flipped with surf. We went from 65-35 surf-skate to 65-35 skate-surf in a year."
This is good news for Ezekiel's DeLaPena, who like all the other brands is betting on denim's potential.
"As the skateboard brands become bigger and take up more real estate, they'll see more and more of a denim influence because it's a natural thing for a skate company to do. Denim has always been a focus for us and will continue to be."
Waxing Brazilian
Sul Denim might just be the hottest Brazilian import since Gisele Bundchen. But only time will tell. The jeans label started selling its sexy, low-cut women's jeans last fall, and plans to start the men's line at retail for spring.
Sul, which means "south" in Portuguese, is offering fresh fashions like drapey stretch fleece "jeans," black stretch "jeans" in cotton twill and low-rise boot-cuts in lightweight denims. The line is a project of Brazilian jeans expert The Vintage Group, and the entire line is made in Brazil.
The bulk of Sul's jeans are priced to retail between $75 and $125, says Robert Carilli, a partner in The Vintage Group. "We want to get away from that product that all looks alike. There's such a traffic jam at the $65 to $75 price point, and with a higher price we can do so much more with the product."
Steve Cohen, formerly with Edwin and Lucky Brand Dungarees, is president of sales for the line, which also offers knits and woven tops. Carilli and Cohen would like to have Sul men's in 35 doors for spring and 75 doors by fall. "We'd like to be around $50 million three years out," says Carilli. "And about 35 percent of that should be in men's."
Carilli plans to back the lineup with trade advertising and also wants to open Sul boutiques in New York and South Beach later this year. how to set up a skateboard

[Reklama]