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.
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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.