Pure Blue Jeans to Debut With Broad Juniors Focus
Pure Blue Jeans, a new juniors denim line launching for Spring 2011, comes to market with a line that reaches tweens through plus-size juniors and young contemporary. Based in Pasadena, Calif., and created in conjunction with a vertically integrated Chinese denim and private-label company, the brand offers three fits for every style and sizes ranging from 0 to 22.
Nancy Duncan—Pure Blue’s vice president of design, merchandising and sales—said the denim industry has largely ignored tween and teen-age girls who don’t fit into typical sizing.
“Some girls are too big for the Limited Too and too small for Forever 21,” she said. Others, especially plus-size girls, are underserved. Pure Blue, which comes to market with a “tweens through plus-size” approach, puts a big emphasis on fit. “A lot of brands just scale up or down [from their sample size]. You can’t do that with plus-size. We use three different fit models for each style of jeans so the fit will be right for each body type,” Duncan said. Styles range from comfy overalls to low-rise, wide-leg jeans and carpenter jeans to flares that are fitted through the knee.
Duncan, who most recently owned CC Girl, a lingerie brand, is a Rampage alum with 22 years of denim experience under her belt. She brings her department-store experience to Pure Blue. Targeting mid- and upper-tier department stores, Pure Blue keeps its silhouettes on the conservative side and its styling eclectic. “There are six basic silhouettes and 22 different fashion treatments,” she said. Most of the jeans are stretch, but two styles are offered in rigid denim.
Duncan, who plans on adding everything from knit tops and dresses to non-denim bottoms in subsequent seasons, expects retailers to hang Pure Blue’s entire size range on its juniors or young-contemporary floor. She declined to name retailers that will carry the brand but said the company expects to sell in 3,500 doors its first year.
Wholesale prices for Pure Blue range from $9.75 to $28.75. Sales of the brand will take place at a corporate showroom in Pure Blue’s Pasadena headquarters.
For more information, call (626) 497-6447.—Erin Barajas
