Do you have pants anxiety?
Last weekend, the New York Times ran a feature on why trousers -- or pants -- have become so voluminous.
Indeed, look around and you might think that looser fits have put the final nail in the coffin of skinny jeans. But retailers and consumers shouldn't get too comfortable in their big pants.
At the moment wide-legged jeans -- including straight, flared, bootcut, barrel, balloon and carrot -- are rapidly taking share from skinnies. But there are signs that the slim-fit is making a comeback.
Pants anxiety for us is great news for retailers. With such a plethora of styles we need more than one pair, one of the reasons why the denim category is so vibrant. Each leg width also needs a different type of top and shoe to co-ordinate, potentially boosting apparel sales.
The difficulty comes when we are in trouser transition -- as now. Despite MiuMiu sending skinnies down the catwalk and online interest in the shape rising, consumers are not yet buying into the style which dominated for more than a decade.
But retailers and denim manufacturers will need to watch trends -- on the catwalk, TikTok creators and street style influencers -- carefully to try to figure out if the slimming down is catching on. They also need a flexible supply chain to adapt to the first sign of a sartorial shift.
Any miscalculation in the baggy-to-bum-hugging ratio risks leaving them with unwanted stock, which will have to be marked down and will eat into profit. Ultimately, how we dress our legs matters to the bottom line.
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