Levi's and Nike create denim for skateboarders; Levi's eyes action sports

Levi’s and Nike have collaborated on new performance denim designed specifically for skateboarders that arrives in stores this week.

 

It’s the first step in a new push by Levi’s to specifically target the action sports market with dedicated sales reps and product designed for this channel.

 

The 511 Skateboarding Collection incorporates Nike’s Dri-Fit moisture management system and stretch. In addition, the team edition jean

 

The Nike x Levi’s signature shoe from Omar Salazar.

This global effort includes the 511 Team Edition Jean, which adds a Vectran weave to make the denim stronger and lighter, and a special edition of a signature shoe from Nike team rider Omar Salazar, which will only be available at core stores starting on July 4.

 

The 511 Skateboarding Jean, a denim trucker jacket and the Nike SB X Levi’s Dunk Low Pro will be available on August 1 at a wider range of retailers.

 

Joshua Katz, formerly of Quiksilver and now in Global Brand Marketing at Levi’s, answered some questions about this new collection and collaboration, and about Levi’s plans for this market.

 

Why is Levi’s interested in the action sports market? Why hasn’t the company targeted this space before?

Josh Katz: It’s funny to talk about “targeting” or “entering” the action market because Levi’s has always been there.

 

Whether it was “White Levi’s” in the 50’s and 60’s, 501’s and Orange Tab Levi’s in the 70’s, or 510’s and 511’s over the last five to 10 years, Levi’s have always been part of this world.

 

But aside from our Street Wear Collection in Europe and the slimmer and more flexible “Action” jean we made in the late 70’s, we haven’t really designed products specifically for this audience or sold them in many of the places where they shop.

 

With the introduction of the 511 Skateboarding Collection, and subsequent programs like it, we are trying to bring the best possible jeans to the people that want them, where they want to buy them.

 

Why now?

Because a lot of us come from this world and we feel like it’s our obligation to tap into Levi’s 139 years of experience to make better products for the things that we do.

 

It’s similar to the Commuter Collection, a line of products we introduced last year specifically for commuter cycling. We all ride to work and we wanted garments that we could wear on the commute, all day at the office, and then out at night. So we developed the 511 Commuter, a jean that is water resistant, flexible and includes safety features and other cycling specific elements subtly integrated into it.

 

The 511 Skateboarding Collection follows a similar logic and went through the same sort of design innovation process. We identified a problem and tried to come up with a simple and elegant solution.

 

 

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See Page 2 for more about the collaboration with Nike, price points, Levi’s future plans for action sports

 

 

How did the collaboration with Nike come about?

Nike is and has for a long time been the best in the game. Their proprietary performance technologies, applied to both footwear and apparel, are simply unmatched.

 

So when they came to us to talk about designing better jeans for skateboarders, we were excited to get the chance to step into their “kitchen” and begin cooking things up.

 

We collaborated with the Jordan brand a few years back, and a lot of us have strong ties to the team over there, specifically in their Action division.

 

The project began around two years ago. The goal was simple: design better jeans for skateboarding by combining our experience in fits, fabrics and finishing with Nike’s proprietary performance technologies. The process wasn’t quite so straightforward, however.

 

Levi’s x Nike Trucker Jacket

It’s easy to build a lot of technology into a denim fabric. And it’s easy to design a bunch of technology features and construction elements that solve some of the problems that skateboarders have with their jeans.

 

But it’s not easy to make a simple, classic-looking jean that performs better, washes well, feels authentic and is priced appropriately.

 

At the end the day, building the 511 Skateboarding Jeans was an exercise in restraint: we retained the fit and construction details of the original 511 and added only what was necessary, technologically and aesthetically speaking.

 

Most of the work is embedded into the denim fabrics themselves, which are some of the most innovative performance fabrics that our partner, the legendary Cone Mills in North Carolina, has ever built.

 

What makes this collaboration product special for skateboarders?

The 511 Skateboarding Jeans are slim-fitting and have all of the classic elements that people expect from Levi’s riveted denim jeans. But the fabric, which was developed in collaboration with Nike and our mutual partner Cone Mills, features Nike’s Dri-Fit moisture management system and stretch to increase mobility and comfort.

 

Levi’s and Nike created a 23-page print magazine to tell the story of the collection.

 

The denim for the Made in the USA 511 Skateboarding Team Edition Jeans, which are all individually hand-numbered and limited to select core skate shops worldwide, also features a special Vectran weave that increases strength and reduces weight.

 

What are the price points?

The Made in the USA 511 Skateboarding Team Edition will retail for $198 and the 511 Skateboarding will retail for $98.

 

Additionally, the Levi’s x Nike Trucker Jacket will retail for $120, the Omar Salazar LR will retail for $85 and the Nike Dunk Pro Low SB will retail for $98.

 

How many doors will the line launch in globally?

The 511 Skateboarding collection will be sold at skate shops and select Levi’s Stores throughout the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, most of Western Europe, China, Japan and Australia.

 

How will Levi’s approach the action sports market going forward? What is the opportunity there for Levi’s?

From the gold miners of the 1870’s to the cyclists and skaters of today, it’s our consumers that we focus on. So as long as skaters are asking for more comfortable, durable, and flexible jeans, we will continue innovating for them.

 

Also, through our newly dedicated sales forces in the US and Europe, we are able to better service our new retail partners (in the action sports channel). This way, we ensure that our consumers can access our products where they prefer to shop.

 

Obviously, the business opportunity is significant. But, perhaps more importantly, this is fun for us and it’s a world that we feel close to. We want to continue to be a part of it for a long time.