Getting Fit: Blitz Tries Hand at ‘Tailored’ Jeans
By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO
Jade Howe has some fashion advice for guys sporting baggy, wide-leg pants belted below the hips: it’s over.
“There’s a whole generation of men draped in excess fabric,” Howe said.
With the baggy look now mainstream, Howe is betting a shift to more-snug jeans is in the offing. Actually “tailored” is how Howe describes his new line of young men’s denim pants for Huntington Beach-based Blitz Distribution.
“It’s probably closest to a European denim fit,” Howe said. “You’re not wrapped in there super tight. It’s not like Iggy Pop-style.”
For Blitz, a maker of skateboard products and related apparel, the line marks a more serious move into “cut and sew” fashion. Howe said the line targets 18- to 26-year-olds with denim pants, slim-fitted T-shirts and thick rock ‘n’ roll belts.
Howe calls it “a mix between cowboy punk and English country gentleman rock star.”
The T-shirts have edgy graphics and playful phrases like “I’m not from Bakersfield.” One style of denim pants has “Mayhem” written across the back pockets.
Blitz is rolling the dice. The company is expanding beyond its core skateboarder market in a bid to lure more fashion-conscious,and finicky,shoppers.
“The biggest challenge is acceptance,” said Frank Kaufman, partner at the Irvine office of Moss Adams LLP, which serves apparel clients.
Retailers say the Howe line is off to a good start.
“I think it’s hot,” said Lou Esposito, owner of IWS Boardshop in Laguna Niguel. “It’s doing well.”
IWS is one of 40 specialty stores carrying the line in California. Others in Orange County include The Closet in Costa Mesa, local outlets of Torrance-based Becker Surf and Habit in Costa Mesa.
“(Customers) have been receptive,” said Erin Boler, assistant manager at Beach Access in South Coast Plaza. Howe “has little tiny details that they added to the clothes that are very cool. It shows that someone is taking the time to do the stuff (right).”
So far, about 15 to 20 retailers have signed up on the East Coast, including Fred Segal, according to Howe.
“Given the economy, I consider every order like four orders,” he said. “I’ve been on the road myself thanking people for their response.”
For now, Howe said Blitz plans to limit distribution. The company won’t open another account in California for a year, he said.
IWS’ Esposito said Blitz should “take baby steps” with the Howe line.
“We’ve been in business for 12 years,” he said. “We see small companies grow and they get too big and then we go onto something else. Things that are in department stores aren’t cool.”
Howe also is jumping into a sea of denim, according to Vince Marjes, a sales associate at The Closet in Costa Mesa. As it is, customers are “bombarded” by denim from Costa Mesa-based Volcom, Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. and big names such as Levi Strauss & Co. and Italy’s Diesel SPA.
Marjes said he sees room for Howe, which is onto something “different and edgy but not too out there.”
Howe jeans sell for $65 and up while T-shirts go for around $22,higher than average. Belts range from $30 to $60.
“They’re a little pricey, but (customers) are not complaining,” IWS’ Esposito said.
To promote the brand, Blitz developed an advertising campaign with the tagline “Do you know howe?” as well as in-store merchandising displays.
Blitz, which has about 100 OC employees, added five people to handle production, design, marketing and sales of the Howe line.
