Denims are formally a part of the workplace uniform.

UBS analysts described denim as a core piece of the trendy office wardrobe, writing in a analysis word this week that return-to-office mandates might bolster the enterprise, placing extra commuters in denims. U.S. customers, the analysts wrote, might now be spending extra on denim for work than formal officewear.

Job listings at this time embrace “informal” costume code descriptions extra steadily than earlier than the pandemic, based on job search platform Adzuna. UBS analysts in a analysis word earlier this week theorized that firms are “encouraging extra informal workwear» as a technique to increase productiveness and encourage working in places of work as an alternative of from house.

“We anticipate the casualization of labor apparel to drive additional denim adoption, significantly as customers improve the variety of days working within the workplace,” UBS wrote. Youthful generations are significantly more likely to present as much as the workplace in denim, UBS mentioned.

«Enterprise skilled» apparel grew much less widespread on the job within the wake of the pandemic, with fits changing into “a rarity,” based on Gallup surveys completed in 2023. Extra employees now don enterprise informal clothes, Gallup discovered, whereas 30% of ladies put on avenue clothes like leggings and T-shirts.

The Alternative to Promote Denim is ‘Immense’

Gross sales of denims have traditionally grown within the low single digit % vary, based on UBS, however the class stalled as athleisure took off within the early 2010s. Denim regained momentum by introducing pants extra centered on consolation, UBS analysts mentioned.

Demand is now being lifted by the rise in recognition of Western-style denim, based on UBS, which expects the home denim market to have a 2% compound annual growth rate over the next five years.

That may be credited partly to Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album and the rising attraction of nation music, UBS mentioned. Such denims might nod to the American West by means of bootcut silhouettes, chap-inspired designs, decorative stitching and buttons or frayed edges, based on vogue publications.  

Macy’s (M), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) and Boot Barn (BOOT) executives just lately reported brisk jean gross sales at conferences or on quarterly earnings convention calls. Levi Strauss (LEVI) CFO Harmit Singh at a convention this month mentioned the «alternative is immense» in denim, based on a transcript made out there by AlphaSense.

Denim is a “extremely fragmented” market with many attire firms that aren’t hyper-focused on denims, UBS analysts mentioned, which ought to profit firms that place a much bigger precedence on denims, together with American Eagle, Levi’s and Kontoor Manufacturers.