• by Stephen Reily , Columnist, August 10, 2015

We’ve been listening to women 45+ for seven years now, and there is one question that never goes away: Where can I find a pair of jeans to love?

The failure of the marketplace to answer this question for so many women remains particularly confusing, because the opportunity is so great, and the need is so clear. We recently surveyed these women for some updated insights. If you want to capture a bigger piece of this giant market, here is your business plan:

The Market Opportunity

Blue jeans are not only the American uniform, they remain a uniform for women even as they age. While the grandmothers of these women may not have worn blue jeans in their 50s, 60s and 70s, these women do. Half of them wear blue jeans almost daily (including to work), and another 38% wear them on weekends. Only 0.4 % say they “never” wear jeans.

And these women have money to spend, more money than their daughters: 56% of respondents spend between $50 and $150 on each pair of jeans. 

Jeans also offer one key to the survival of traditional bricks-and-mortar retail. While women 45+ buy an increasing amount of their clothes online, they continue to buy jeans in stores, presumably because of the importance of fit (see below). Only 16% told us that they buy jeans online or from catalogs; the rest buy them in stores.

How to Get it Right

What women are looking for in jeans is really not complicated: fit.

Women’s bodies change as they age — and most of that change falls where jeans matter most. That’s why 96% of our survey respondents told us that fit is the most important thing to them in choosing jeans. Comfort (closely related to fit) was the only other factor named by more than 50% of women.

Any jeans company that offers waist-to-hip ratios that meet the varying needs of post-menopausal women will succeed.

The Brands They (At Least Some of Them) Love

Some brands are getting this opportunity right, but not to the degree they could. And there is more than enough room for others.

The #1 brand named by women 45+? NYDJ, named by almost 15% of respondents as their favorite. Launched in 2003, this brand mastered both fit and a “just-for-you” name at a time when a new generation of women were looking for something just like it.

The only brand that came close to NYDJ was Levi’s. While it’s 130 years older then NYDJ, Levi’s has done a better job than any mainstream brand in offering women options for jeans that meet all their different needs.

Otherwise, no brand was named even half as often as NYDJ or Levi’s. The next three most popular were: 

• Chico’s, originally founded to serve the needs of Boomers as they age 

• Gloria Vanderbilt, a style icon and model for working women in the 1970s (and now 91-year-old mother of Anderson Cooper) whose fashion business survives in a line of jeans that women still love

• Lee – tried and true, this brand has adapted with a range of fits

Among retailers, Chico’s, Macy’s and Kohl’s were the most-named, a reminder that retailers that can get jeans right will certainly win a lot more business from the spending Boomer.

Start (or Grow) Your Jeans Business Now

By now, it should be clear that if you want to grow or build your business selling jeans to Boomer women, the coast is clear. Brands with established loyalty should be doubling down on customers who like them already, and brands that aren’t investing in this opportunity should start right now. Hire some master fitters, communicate your love for these important customers, and get them telling each other that you’re the brand they were all waiting for.