wholesale ed hardy

This is the Smarteez work space. This is where Kepi Mngomezulu, Lethabo Tsatsinyane, Floyd Mantoane and Sibu Sithole are working on their collection to be showcased at South Africa Fashion Week.The team emerged on the social scene a few years ago, and almost instantly became darlings of our fashion industry.
They rejected the proverbial box and opted for a creative take on fashion.

Smarteez fast became popular for their DIY dress sense, informed by an amalgamation of the old and new - contemporary and vintage, in fashion speak.

Their collection, called Colour Blocking, is about creating fashion that will appeal to their peers .

O Magazine fashion editor Robyn Cooke attributes their popularity to optimism: "They reacted to, rather than reflected on, the flat economic and political environment with a unique and personal perspective."

Mngomezulu agrees: "We are living out people's dreams."

"We represent freedom," adds Tsatsinyane, who is dressed in a white pleated shirt and red chinos. "People are afraid to express themselves. We do that with clothing."

The Smarteez' non-conformity is vividly illustrated by Sithole's recent quote in Dazed and Confused magazine.

"I was born into the free world. And some people accuse me of taking my freedom for granted. But to that I say f**k you! It is my freedom to take for granted."

They represent a generation that insists on living life freely.

After spending time with them, my understanding of the spirit and appeal of Smarteez is this: Juju and his crew say being cool is being seen at ZAR sipping on Veuve Clicquot while eating sushi off naked models.

But the Smarteez and their fans beliefs are new and different.

They say: "To hell with the Chanel bag; grandma's vintage brocade purse will do. To hell with True Religion jeans, the rugged ones will get the attention I want."

It is simple - they show us that we need not fit in. That we should take the risk and score a place at the altar of cool.

It is about what trends analyst Dion Chang, borrowing from TIME Magazine, calls "Generation Disappointment".

It is about a youth that is disgruntled by the promises of the "rainbow nation" and a "better life for all", but is one that is taking matters into its own hands to create that life by defying definition.

From this back room will probably come a fashion brand that embodies a generation that chooses optimism and non-conformity in the face of a rainbow nation dream that they see in shades of black, white and grey.

Retailers from American Eagle Outfitters to Bloomingdale's are betting that women are ready to shed skinny jeans for a return to flared styles, a change that may firm up more than sagging denim sales.“The fashion shift is coming,” said Christine Chen, an apparel retail analyst at Needham & Co. in San Francisco. “Once the bottom changes, your tops are wrong. It's a whole new reason for the consumer to spend.”Form-hugging denim, around since the middle of the last decade, boosted jeans purchases during the recession with styles like J. Crew's “matchstick.” Now the novelty has worn off, with sales of women's premium denim sliding more than 6 percent last year to $1.36 billion, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group.
Upscale department stores such as Bloomingdale's aim to buck that trend with designer jeans from J Brand resembling upside down martini glasses for $185. If women buy in, retailers and jean makers such as True Religion Apparel may have just the trend to revive demand in the $13 billion U.S. market, helping to offset price increases spurred by record cotton costs.

“It's been a hit,” said Stephanie Solomon, women's fashion director at Bloomingdale's.

“We've all been wearing skinnies or jeggings for too long. It's a reason to buy.”

Flares have fueled denim sales this spring and are outselling skinny jeans, Solomon said. The style, which showed up on runways last year, has also reached mass-market retailers such as Pittsburgh-based American Eagle, which unveiled a “vintage flare” this spring for $49.50. True Religion, based in Vernon, Calif., offers a dozen flared styles for as much as $319.

Fashion had focused on slimmer shapes since the mid-1990s, when women's magazines began looking more to Kate Moss than Cindy Crawford, said Lourdes Font, a professor of art history at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Skinnies, leggings and jeggings (leggings that look like jeans) have left designers with nowhere else to go but bigger.

“It's at the very limits of physical reality,” Font said. “The only other thing tighter is your own skin.”

The flare revival itself could make much of women's old wardrobes obsolete, Chen said, because pants often spur other trends. Flowing tops and shirt-dresses came into being to compensate for the ultra-skinny. Wide legs will usher in an era of shorter and tighter blouses, sweaters and jackets, Chen said.

Footwear will change too, said Amy Noblin, an apparel-chain analyst for Weeden & Co. in Greenbrae, Calif. Skinny jeans pair well with boots, propelling sales past $5 billion last year and sparking an explosion in brands such as Ugg.

Bell bottoms, instead, hide much of the foot and may curb the appeal of today's ubiquitous knee-high boots. That could lead to a renaissance in footwear with flat soles such as sandals or platforms, Solomon said.

The wide leg may also gain acceptance faster than skinny because it's more flattering and many women still have a flare or two in their closets, Noblin said.

“People don't have to go back too far in their lifetime to remember the last time they wore a pair of flare jeans, which makes me think this is an embraceable, democratic trend,” Noblin said.

Still, a fashion shift of this magnitude won't be a boon for every retailer. While San Francisco-based Gap also is offering flares for $69.50, it may have difficulty connecting with shoppers because it's known more for basics and not the “hippie chic” look that's spurring this trend, Chen said.

“This is right up our alley,” Louise Callagy, a spokeswoman for Gap, said when asked how the retailer is likely to fare with the new trend. “Gap has always done best when it participates in culture, and flare jeans and pants are an example of that.”

Designers are confident, too. Premium denim purveyor James Jeans, found at such luxury stores as Barney's New York, has touted jeans with legs as wide as 22 inches, more than double a skinny cut.

“This was overdue,” said founder James Chung, whose Los Angeles-based company is offering half-a-dozen varieties of flare pants this season. “You can only have so many skinny jeans in your wardrobe.”

Retailers from American Eagle Outfitters to Bloomingdale's are betting that women are ready to shed skinny jeans for a return to flared styles, a change that may firm up more than sagging denim sales.

"The fashion shift is coming," said Christine Chen, an apparel retail analyst at Needham & Co. in San Francisco. "Once the bottom changes, your tops are wrong. It's a whole new reason for the consumer to spend."

Form-hugging denim, around since the middle of the last decade, boosted jeans purchases during the recession with styles like J. Crew's "matchstick." Now the novelty has worn off, with sales of women's premium denim sliding more than 6 percent last year to $1.36 billion, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group.

Upscale department stores like Bloomingdale's aim to buck that trend with designer jeans from J Brand resembling upside down martini glasses for $185. If women buy in, retailers and jean makers such as True Religion Apparel may have just the trend to revive demand in the $13 billion U.S. market, helping to offset price increases spurred by record cotton costs.

"It's been a hit," said Stephanie Solomon, women's fashion director at Bloomingdale's. "We've all been wearing skinnies or jeggings for too long. It's a reason to buy."

Flares have fueled denim sales this spring and are outselling skinny jeans, Solomon said. The style, which showed up on runways last year, has also reached mass-market retailers such as Pittsburgh-based American Eagle, which unveiled a "vintage flare" this spring for $49.50. True Religion, based in Vernon, Calif., offers a dozen flared styles for as much as $319.

Fashion had focused on slimmer shapes since the mid-1990s, when women's magazines began looking more to Kate Moss than Cindy Crawford, said Lourdes Font, a professor of art history at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Skinnies, leggings and jeggings (leggings that look like jeans) have left designers with nowhere else to go but bigger.

"It's at the very limits of physical reality," Font said. "The only other thing tighter is your own skin."

The flare revival itself could make much of women's old wardrobes obsolete, Chen said, because pants often spur other trends. Flowing tops and shirt-dresses came into being to compensate for the ultra-skinny. Wide legs will usher in an era of shorter and tighter blouses, sweaters and jackets, Chen said.

Joe’s Jeans Inc. (JOEZ), headquartered in Los Angeles, California, is an apparel company best known as a premium women’s denim brand. Customers praise JOEZ's excellent fit, which is a result of offering multiple hip-to-waist ratios in different styles. However, the company is much more than a women's premium denim brand. JOEZ also has a growing men's denim business as well as non-denim bottoms, tops, and jackets for both men and women. In addition, JOEZ has license agreements in place for handbags and belts. JOEZ competes with all the major premium denim brands and the high-end casual apparel designers in the non-denim categories.JOEZ sells through multiple distribution channels including department stores, specialty stores, and its own retail stores. As part of its direct-to-consumer strategy, JOEZ has opened 17 retail stores over the past few years and now has 4 full price stores and 13 outlet locations with 9 additional outlet stores planned for 2011.When the company announced fourth quarter and fiscal year 2010 earnings on February 10th, the stock was punished, falling 25% on the day. Ultimately, the stock bottomed on March 23 at $0.85, or 43% below the pre-earnings level of $1.50 per share.
While 2010 revenue grew 23% versus 2009 and JOEZ has grown the top-line at an annual rate of over 20% since 2005, there were questions regarding fourth quarter 2010 revenue. At $23.6mm, Q4 2010 revenue fell 7% versus 2009. This decrease was due to weakness in the wholesale women’s channel. Wholesale as a whole fell 17% in the quarter despite the men’s wholesale business experiencing 44% growth. On the conference call, CEO Marc Crossman suggested that the female customer “looked to new fabrics as the catalyst for her next purchase” and JOEZ “did not capitalize on this trend with the right offerings of cords, pontes, and super-stretch fabrics.”

While changes in trends are always a risk in the apparel industry, JOEZ has responded by re-vamping their summer and fall offerings. In addition, the women’s wholesale business is becoming an increasingly smaller part of the overall revenue as the men’s business grows, although it still made up 67% of 2010 revenue (down from 75% in 2009). It’s worth noting here that the retail business in 2010 grew 173% as the number of stores increased from six to 17.

This stock reaction was extreme, and even with a slight rebound to $0.92 per share, JOEZ is trading at a depressed level that makes it a compelling investment. With a market capitalization of $59mm, JOEZ is trading at 0.9x book value. Although there is no perfect comparable company, the best comparison is probably to True Religion (TRLG), which trades at a book value of 2.3x. Broadening the comparable universe note that The Gap (GPS) trades at 3.3x, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) at 2.6x, Volcom (VLCM) at 2.0x, and VF Corp (VFC) at 2.7x. This data supports the idea that JOEZ may be oversold.

Of course, book value is not the only parameter to consider. On an enterprise value to sales basis, JOEZ trades at 0.5x trailing revenue versus True Religion at 1.2x. Examining EBITDA or earnings multiples provide comparisons that are difficult to interpret given different cost structures and tax rates. It is difficult to point to any specific multiples to quantify the amount by which JOEZ is undervalued. Rather, one needs to examine the sequential gross margin trends and targets, understand the retail strategy and how it will positively impact sales and margins, and realize that the weakness in the women’s wholesale channel is temporary. With nine additional retail outlets opening in 2011, an increasing focus on eCommerce as another direct-to-consumer channel, and the ability to adapt to fashion trend changes, JOEZ has many ways to grow.

While at a market capitalization of $59mm JOEZ is undervalued, there are no-near term catalysts. Rather, JOEZ needs to successfully execute its strategy and as it does, its valuation should increase materially. In the interim, as a small cap company with significant retail ownership, JOEZ stock will experience volatility. This may account for some of the downward price pressure post-earnings.

Additionally, there is no guarantee that JOEZ will successfully execute its strategy. The markets in which JOEZ operates are very competitive and changes in fashion trends are hard to predict and can materially impact sales. However, all these risks and more are currently factored into JOEZ's share price, resulting in a compelling risk/reward proposition for long-term investors with the patience to let management execute on their multi-faceted strategy.

A small Corvallis clothing store needs the community's help to find three men who stole thousands of dollars worth of jeans on Sunday morning.

The surveillance video shows that, at about 11:15 a.m., the men walked in and looked around for a few minutes before grabbing stacks of True Religion jeans right off the front table and bolting out the door.

The 17-pairs of jeans stolen are the most expensive in the store, worth more than $4,000 total.
 
"We're just a little local store and especially in this economy it's a big loss for our store, especially those being the most expensive jeans, and especially since there was a full size of them, 29 to 34," Alex Plew, Urban Laundry sales associate.

Corvallis Police tell us they don't have any leads in the case yet.
 
But store employees say one of the suspects has a distinct black tattoo on his neck.

Urban Laundry managers are offering a $500 cash reward if you have information that leads to an arrest in the case.

Small-cap companies are absolutely one of my favorite areas to research because you can often uncover hidden gems that analysts have neglected or simply not discovered yet. They can offer the ultimate risk-vs.-reward ratio, but are also not for the faint of heart.This 10-week series is dedicated to finding the 10 small caps to rule them all. Here are the previous three choices:    * Golden Star Resources    * Buffalo Wild Wings
    * Integrated Silicon Solution

This week I want to highlight premium denim retailer True Religion Apparel (Nasdaq: TRLG) .

What it does
True Religion is a supplier of fashion jeans and sportswear apparel throughout the U.S., as well as internationally. In 2010, U.S. direct-to-consumer sales accounted for 52% of total sales, adding in its brick-and-mortar locations. Its U.S. wholesale business accounted for 29% of total sales, while international sales increased to just shy of 18% of sales.

How it stacks up
One of True Religion's biggest challenges is transitioning from a wholesaler into a traditional B&M store. The costs associated with the transition require a healthy balance sheet since plenty of cash is needed to open new stores. In addition, the company must deal with rising input costs, particularly cotton, which is a primary component in its denim products.

Sponsored Links
Luckily for True Religion shareholders, the balance sheet is as clean as a whistle and cotton costs aren't hitting the company as hard as previously anticipated. True Religion is growing faster than its rivals, yet somehow manages its money very conservatively.

As you can see, quite a few of these fashion retailers are trading at low price-to-earnings multiples relative to their five-year projected growth rate, but none really compares to True Religion. Guess? has ample cash and a low PEG ratio, but falls short with a gross margin rate of 35.8% while Perry Ellis struggles under $210 million in net debt. Polo Ralph Lauren and Philips-Van Heusen get close to True Religion's gross margin figures, but seem more than fully valued if you consider their PEG ratios; not to mention Philips' more than $2 billion in net debt. On paper True Religion appears to be a winner, now let's see if it can help your portfolio.

How it could make you money
I've said before that the key to True Religion's success will lay in its ability to transition into a B&M retailer. This year marked the transition whereby more sales came from the direct-to-consumer segment than the wholesale market. Why is this important you may wonder?

Well, True Religion's gross margins are more than 2000 basis points higher from its direct-to-consumer segment than the wholesale market -- 72.4% vs. 50.9%. True Religion has done a good job branding its name into consumers' minds, seeing an 18% increase in international sales in 2010. The company can also grow considerably faster in the direct-to-consumer segment. Retail inventory per square foot increased only 1% for the year while same-store sales jumped 9.6% in that time, which proves it's doing a great job managing its inventory.

As the company continues its transition into a B&M retailer, I'd anticipate margins will continue to climb and that margin expansion could have shareholders dancing like they have ants in their pants.

What's your take on True Religion? Is it a passing fad or is this company the real deal? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and consider tracking my picks as well as creating your own personalized portfolio by adding stocks like True Religion Apparel to My Watchlist.