Lucky Brand Jeans
Lucky Brand Jeans
Lucky Brand Jeans is an American denim company founded in Vernon, California in 1990 by Gene Montesano and Barry Perlman.[2] Lucky also produces other apparel, including activewear, outerwear, T-shirts, and professional attire. In December 2013, Leonard Green & Partners acquired Lucky Brand Jeans for $225 million from Fifth & Pacific Companies.[1]
Stores
Lucky Brand products are available through the 150 company-owned stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Canada, and Europe. In the United Arab Emirates and Australia, Lucky products can be found in David Jones department stores. In the U.S., Lucky is also sold at major department store chains including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom, Belk, and Dillard's, as well as at smaller specialty chains like Buckle.
Operations
The corporate headquarters move from Vernon to the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles in 2012. The jeans maker moved to a new downtown office built in the 1940s art deco style located at 540 S. Santa Fe near the historic 4th and 6th Street Bridges.[4]
History
In the 1970s, 21-year-old Gene Montesano and 17-year-old Barry Perlman opened a Florida jeans shop called Four Way Street. "During the evenings, we'd head out to the local Laundromat with our pockets full of coins and some bleach. A few hours later, we had a stack of great washed jeans -- one of a kind and 100% authentic!"[5]
Montesano and Perlman created a brand that is known for the attention to detail put into each pair of jeans. The phrase "Lucky You" is stitched on the fly of each pair of jeans, which they claim accomplishes the goal that the brand set out to do: create a product of good quality and good humor.[6]
Lucky Foundation
The Lucky Brand Foundation was first launched in 1996, which was initially established with a goal to help children. Since the launch the foundation has raised over $8 million through fund raising events. Such events have featured rock performers such as Jackson Browne, Joe Cocker, B.B. King, and Bonnie Raitt. Another way the Foundation has been consistently successful at accomplishing their set goal is through the annual Black Tie & Blue Jeans Gala, which has a record of raising approximately $6 million for numerous children's charities including: Smile Train, Camp Sundown, Island Dolphin Care, Shane's Inspiration and The Bridge School.[5] With the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's album, Lucky Foundation was able to raise more than $700,000.[7]
Product
All of the products sold by Lucky as well as their stores' decoration reflected a bohemian style. Denim is the major selling point of the company, making up about 60% of business. All Lucky Brand Jeans have two four-leaf clovers with the phrase "LUCKY YOU!" stitched onto the outside of the fly shield. This has become a trademark of their denim line, which is made up of a wide variety of fits and a wide variety of washing.
In 2005, the company expanded its line to include clothing for infants through age 10. In 2006, the company opened Lucky Brand Jeans Kid stores, which exclusively sell their children's clothing.
Prior to 2010, most Lucky products were manufactured in the USA. They are currently made in Indonesia, China, Peru, Chile, Vietnam, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Haiti. All USA-manufactured Lucky jeans manufactured in the United States are all hand-made in Los Angeles, and all the detailing is done by hand, except for the washing process.
In the summer of 2013, Lucky re-introduced Made in America (MIA) jeans. The denim is produced by Cone Denim in their White Oak Mill in Greensboro, North Carolina.[8] The jeans are then hand-stitched in Los Angeles. Almost every style of women's and men's jeans has an MIA counterpart.