This Article is From Aug 19, 2010

Levi's new brand to attract Asian customers

New York: It's a case of east meets west - iconic American clothing tailored to fit the booming Asian market.

The American blue jeans giant, Levi Strauss, has launched a new global brand in China aimed at winning over a growing and youthful market.

The five pocket jeans called Denizen is priced around $40-$60 USD and is aimed at 20 to 40 year olds.

The Denizen brand has been cut to fit the smaller-sized customers the company hopes to attract in China, Singapore, South Korea and eventually India.

Designer jeans in China usually cost around $300 and have proved popular with China's emerging middle class.

The newest incarnation of Levis will aim at a broader segment of Chinese consumers than traditional Levis, which sell for over $100 in the upscale malls.

The Levis brand enjoys an avid following in China, especially among relatively well-off younger shoppers, some of whom are collectors.

The San Francisco, California-based Levi Strauss is keen to expand its base in one of the world's biggest consumer markets, where sales of apparel and footwear hit $169 billion last year, according to a report by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, and growing at a healthy double-digit pace.

Already, sales of garments and shoes in China have outpaced pricey Japan, accounting for more than a third for all of Asia, and increasingly, fashion-conscious Shanghai is viewed as a foothold for the region.

A slew of retailers have crowded into the city's department stores and malls, from luxury brands like Louis Vuitton to more affordable labels like Esprit and H M.

From beverages to shampoos, global companies are finding ways to appeal to local consumers with made-for-China brands.

On a more upscale note, Hermes International's new China brand of clothing and other products, Shang Xia, will debut with the opening of its first store next month in Shanghai.

Levi Strauss, which retreated from the China market for a time in the mid-1990s citing concerns over labour rights, now has hundreds of outlets in China and plans to open up to 1,000 by 2015.

The company, which also sells Dockers pants and Signature brand products, is honing its focus on China's emerging middle class _ a popular strategy in the recession-stricken age of less-is-more in more mature Western markets.

With Lee, Diesel and other big brands coming on strong, there is plenty of competition.

Many Chinese consumers are keen on a local, or nationalistic identity for the products they buy and companies are matching this, even if products are destined for the global market.

At the same time, consumers are becoming more pragmatic and looking for extra value, and having a brand that caters to their tastes can provide some of that extra appeal.

Levi's jeans date back to the 1870s in America when Levi Strauss and a nevada tailor received a US petent for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim trousers.

It was after that that Levi Strauss ...Co began manufacturing the famous brand of strengthened jeans to a new generation of American labourers.

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