Free to choose designer jeans

The designer jeans market is on the decline in the United States, says Israeli-American designer Nathan Menashe - but don't eulogize premium denim just yet.

"Over the last few years, people bought lots of jeans and now they feel they have enough in the closet," says Menashe. "The economy in America is at a low point, and people are now buying other things." Menashe should know: He is the designer for the American premium denim label Freedom of Choice - and even he rarely wears jeans lately.

But make no mistake. Menashe, who is visiting Israel, is not announcing the death of jeans. On the contrary, he believes that a good pair of jeans is a great investment. "The fabric of jeans looks better over the years," he says. "Just like wine, it improves with age."

Perhaps the impressions of Amit Shoham, published here around a year ago, are more appropriate: "Jeans are stuck. They've become a pain. Their roots as work clothes and a symbol of rebellion and protest, their image as the ultimate casual clothes, their particularity as an item that ages with its wearer in a way that is reserved for both of them alone - none of this works anymore."

Menashe maintains that "2008 is the year of dresses."

"The jeans companies are looking for gimmicks to encourage the market, such as the ad announcing the death of the skinny [jeans]," he says. "Instead they are bringing in something new - wide, high pants - and waiting for the market to wake up."

The trend for the coming winter is dark jeans with a clean wash, Menashe says. Freedom of Choice jeans have a wide variety of cuts, from relatively low-cut, ankle-length motorcycle pants to high-cut jeans that flare out in the leg and skinny jeans, which Menashe says are still successful in the U.S. He is more drawn to wider cuts reminiscent of the style that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s, but Victoria Schwartz, who works with him, prefers the more rock-oriented, narrow cut. Together they are creating a nice selection of cuts for women of all ages.

Next summer, says Menashe, ripped jeans will be back in fashion. Unlike jeans that can be worn to the office or out to a restaurant, these are not suitable for everyone, he says - "certainly not for women aged 30 and over."

Another prominent trend indicated by Menashe is colored jeans. He has designed jeans in purple, green and khaki, and he says they are even more popular than blue jeans. But the strongest trend, he says, is organic jeans. "The mere fact that the label says organic causes people to buy it," he says. Menashe was born in Los Angeles to Israeli parents who immigrated to the United States, where they ran four clothing stores called French Connection (before the British brand of the same name was launched). When he turned 10, he moved with his parents to Israel and returned to the U.S. after serving in the Israel Defense Forces. He began studying business administration, but after two years of studies he decided he would rather study fashion, and enrolled at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

"When I was little, my brother and I would come to my parents' store every day after school," recalls Menashe. "My mother dressed celebrities such as Diana Ross, Annie Lennox and Elvis Presley. I would sometimes find myself standing in the store window like a mannequin, dressed in women's clothes."

While studying business administration and fashion, Menashe also worked for the jeans company Joe's Jeans as a graphic artist. There, he says, he learned over time everything there is to know about jeans, including fabric, washing and colors. "I learned how to wash any jeans, and it's a dirty process, something that designers don't do," he says. "But for me, it's important. It's almost the last step in the manufacturing process, before the ironing."

After five years with the company, Menashe decided it was time to branch out. In early 2006 he launched a line of jeans under his own label. Two years later, his brand is a favorite of celebrities including Kate Hudson and Katherine Heigl. His jeans are sold at Anthropologie stores across the U.S. and in Tel Aviv's Kikar Hamedina.

Menashe says consumers who buy designer labels are paying for better quality than they would get from low-end jeans. "The quality of the fabrics is higher," he says. "At my label, the fabrics used for premium jeans are imported from Japan and Italy and undergo particularly careful inspections to test for shrinkage, much more than mass-produced jeans. Also the quality of the starch, the substances used in washings, and the color and the tones obtained at the end of the process are all on a higher level. I know that people don't have the money to pay for premium jeans, but it's worth having at least one pair in the closet, for special occasions."

Available at Amor (74 Heh B'Iyar, Tel Aviv) and Collect (Shenkar 11, Herzliya Pituah). Prices: NIS 850 to NIS 1,090.