As part of its effort to cozy up to the designer womens apparel crowd, Levi Strauss & Co. plans to sell a collection of high-end men's jeans and casual clothes guest-designed by Engineered Garments, an edgy New York label whose designers take their inspiration from rugged work wear.Four Bloomingdale's stores will carry the collection, called Levi's Engineered Garments, and, starting next week, some pieces will also be sold on Levi's Web site. The line features $235 button-fly 501 jeans modeled after 1947 versions, $235 hunting pants and $185 Army shirts.
Levi Strauss, which was hurt by the premium-denim trend, has been trying to up its fashion quotient. Other efforts include a premium line called Capital E, with prices starting at $150.
Engineered Garments competed against five other labels for a chance to design the line, in the first Best New Menswear Designers in America contest sponsored by GQ magazine and the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
By: Ray Smith, Jennifer Saranow, and Christina Passariello
Wall Street Journal; September 11, 2008
