If you’re a recent business or MBA grad eager to land a job in retail, you need to be one step ahead of retail trends. And one of the hottest trends to watch is where designer jeans are going and who’s buying them.
Women: More Into Jeans Than Men
Except for gay men and metrosexuals, women tend to be more fashion-conscious than men. According to Esri, 5.2% of U.S. women are prone to buy designer jeans, compared with 3.4% of men. If you’re applying for a job as a buyer or merchandiser, you’ll need to know who these women are and where they live.
Women who buy designer jeans usually reside along the Eastern Seaboard, in the South, and in parts of California, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska. To get an idea of the how this demographic spreads out geographically by zip code, check out the Esri buyer’s map.
So who are these women? Esri helps us out there as well. Their Tapestry Segmentation system classifies U.S. residential neighborhoods into 65 unique socioeconomic and demographic markets. While residents of these neighborhoods cover a wide spectrum of age, income, diversity, housing and jobs, they do share certain key characteristics.
For example, women most likely to follow and buy designer jeans are Metro Renters, Trendsetters, and Young and Restless who comprise young singles drawn to big-city life. They’re well-educated, working professionals living in densely populated neighborhoods. Also looking to buy are Laptops and Lattes, a demo of affluent, more established singles who prefer carefree, childfree rental living in the city. And lest we not forget, our highly educated Top Rungers who pull in average salaries of $173K.
Least likely to go the designer jeans route are Southern Satellites, married-couples who live in the rural South and work in the manufacturing and service industries. Also eschewing jean fashion trends are Midland Crowd settled-down marrieds who live in villages or towns in rural areas across the U.S.
Who and Where are the Fashion Conscious Men?
If you want to sell designer jeans, you can’t ignore the male market. You’ll find these buyers up and down the Eastern Seaboard, in southern Florida and Texas, in stretches of the California coast, and even in western Alaska. Here, buyers are men in Family Foundations neighborhoods typically located in small, urban communities that include married couples and single parents. Equally fashion conscious are men in multicultural families found in Urban Village neighborhoods, mostly in “gateway” cities in California. Least interested in designer jeans are 18-24 year olds in College Town neighborhoods and traditional Salt of the Earth married men living in single-family homes in small towns. Also falling into the disinterested group are Silver and Gold wealthy, retired professionals who have moved to Florida, Arizona and California.
Information about who buys designer jeans and where they live can be crucial for buyers and merchandisers. If you’re ready to start your career as a retail fashion buyer or merchandiser, it can’t hurt to spout some of this data during your job interview.
Image courtesy of foto76/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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