Dubbed New Era: LDN, the fitted cap brand that’s dominated the streetwear marketplace for years now, and continues to push trends with unique collaborations across industries including sports, music, film, and fashion, has opened an additional flagship store as of June 9th located in the heart of trendy shopping near Covent Gardens, Carnaby Street just off Regent and Piccadilly Circus at 72-74 Brewer Street in London, England. New Era currently has a store in New York City and Buffalo, NY, which have both been successful with their various designs and limited edition cap series. The intention with New Era: LDN is to offer up the largest range of caps the company has, most in the popular fitted 59Fifty design, with about 50% which will be exclusive. The store will also feature Batman, Superman, and Spiderman licenses from Marvel and DC Comics.
UNIV streetwear boutique which has become popular for its crossover section of streetwear brands and footwear in their first store located in Encinitas, CA, has opened up their second store in South Beach Miami on June 7th at 100 Collins. According to Mirko Mangum, the co-owner, "With our Encinitas location and now South Beach, we will continue to offer a cultural alternative to the traditional retail experience by focusing on emerging brands, hard-to-find items and other assorted curiosities from around the world.” UNIV is a collective between Mirko, Tim Swart, Mark Gamez, and Sal Masekela. The Miami location has an old-school Florida tribute theme and will carry brands such as the new collaboration skateboard deck by legendary street artist Haze, plus UNIV’s own brands for men and women, as well as The Hundreds, Zoo York, Keep shoes for girls, Hellz Bellz! which is rocking it right now on the women’s streetwear tip, Clae, New Balance, Crooks & Castles, Vans, and Stüssy, among others. UNIV is also known for collaborations such as the popular Brave Art show, the UNIV and Pepsi and Eneri Abelasol bicycle, and sponsorship of the Phoenix Am skateboarding event.
Levi Strauss is going after a new strategy to lift the brand which once made a reported $7 billion and has since dropped to $4 billion by concentrating on opening retail stores, primarily targeting young women. The concept by opening stores is to have more control of the wholesale market and react to trends faster. Currently, 7 of the anticipated 20 new stores are now opened (Levi’s has 45 total so far). It’s long been noted that developing one’s own retail store can protect a business by pushing your own brands rather than relying on department stores that now often have their own lines as well. To attract young girls, new styles are being introduced in the stores including slim jeans that have a girdle-like technology, and for young males, they offering slouch fit or rather, an urban and skate-inspired cut. While to many of us, this sounds incredibly Johnny-come-lately, the thing about Levi’s is that they do have the infrastructure and revenue to create their own retail space in the crowded denim marketplace. So the strategy is smart—if you can get more young people into the new stores, which again needs to meet the new consumer expectations which require a much different experience today than it did back when Levi’s was in it’s heyday in the mid-‘90’s and missed the baggy pants movement (and famously called it a “passing fad.”) Financial analysts are predicting a potential upturn based on the new retail store strategy for the brand that has the unfortunate history of being used as an example in marketing classes as the brand that missed the boat.
