G-Star Announces More Stores

Dutch premium-denim brand G-Star is on the move.

It is scheduled to debut a San Francisco boutique on Oct. 26. On Nov. 7, it will open a store in Scottsdale, Ariz. On Nov. 15, it will debut a store at Santa Monica Place mall in Santa Monica, Calif. By the end of November, G-Star will run 13 boutiques in America. The store fleet is forecast to increase to 50 G-Star stores in the United States by 2015, said Stuart Millar, the executive vice president of G-Star North America.

American real estate continues to look good for the Dutch brand, which has more than 212 stores in 86 countries across the globe, according to Millar. “The economy is somewhat sluggish in some people’s opinion,” he said. “We are relatively undeveloped as a brand in the U.S. We have plenty of opportunities to grow here.”

More than 20 years ago, G-Star started as a men’s line featuring raw denim with an industrial aesthetic. One of the Dutch company’s main efforts is to steer it away from being a guy’s brand only. This year, 70 percent of its sales are for men’s fashions, and 30 percent is for women’s fashions. By 2013, the company hopes that half of its merchandise sold will be men’s styles and 50 percent will be women.—Andrew Asch