Silver Jeans

The name evokes a commodity on par with a precious metal.

But in the case of local garment giant Silver Jeans, it’s also a bit of misnomer, given the industry-renowned mid-luxury denim brand has for decades been setting the gold standard in sartorial excellence.

Now entering its 20th year, the company is beloved by both cutting-edge trendsetters and their more casual counterparts, a status attained largely—if not solely—on the strength of one simple virtue: the irrefutable quality of Silver Jeans’ merchandise.  

“The product has always sold on the basis of being the best-looking, best-fitting, most ‘on point’ fashion jean available,” says Michael Silver, president and owner of Silver Jeans, the most widely-distributed of several denim-related offshoots of Winnipeg garment manufacturers Western Glove Works. 

“It wasn’t that people loved the Silver Jeans lifestyle or image. They just loved the darn jeans.”

The company—known for blending modern and vintage details with intricate washes and creative designs—may soon be giving fans a few more reasons to spread the love. For the last 28 months, it’s been the subject of a sweeping re-branding process—though Silver himself suggests there might not have been much of an identity to begin with.

The Silver brand was recognized throughout the world, to be sure, but sales were made on the basis of quality, not concepts. As a result, the core values that defined the company internally didn’t always translate to its external messaging, he says.

“We were spending millions of dollars on marketing and it was all really nice stuff, but none of it had that check against it, to make sure it was part of the values that Silver Jeans stood for,” says Silver.

“Now we have this bible, and everything we do—from the way we answer the telephone, to how we do our billboards in Times Square, to how we put the label on the jeans—has to be part of that brand value.”

As part of the re-branding process, the label’s strategists helped boil the Silver Jeans essence down to a set of core values, honing in on its “precious”-ness, its Canadian-ness, its status as a classic, and its focus on family and friends.

A fifth value—that of not being afraid to have fun—will no doubt strike a chord with Silver Jeans’ target demographic. (The label appeals to buyers 16 to 60, but especially so with those in their mid-20s.)

Silver speaks proudly of how his company’s ad campaigns feature models with both a smile and a glint in their eye, and says he’d much rather be known as the life of the party than the coolest kid in the room. 

“When the coolest dude walks into a party—and he’s dressed so good and he’s so handsome—everybody gets tense, because they know they can’t measure up,” he explains.

“But sometimes a guy or girl walks into the room who everyone just loves, and they all immediately feel relaxed. That’s what we want to be at Silver Jeans. We want to be the person who walks into the room, and people say, ‘Fun is here.’”

That mainstream attitude is also informed by the company’s location, says Silver, who notes there are a number of advantages to being based in Manitoba, despite people’s preconceptions.

“My design staff are all around the world,” he says, “but then they come back to Winnipeg where things are real—where you go to hockey practice with your kid or have coffee at Tim Hortons. It’s normal stuff and it helps—we’ve been able to translate some very trendy items and make them wearable for the average North American.”

That said, Silver’s designers—working under longtime design director Allan Kemp—are as globally-minded as they come, drawing equal amounts of inspiration from the runways and the street. Lines are influenced by the music industry, magazines, TV and video, and by developments in major centres like Tokyo, London and New York.

“It wasn’t that people loved the Silver Jeans lifestyle or image. They just loved the darn jeans.”

The design process can be long and difficult, with most work taking place a full year before new lines hit the shelves. But Silver Jeans has something of an ace up its sleeve, in its link to Western Glove Works’ 90-year history in manufacturing—a heritage that’s had a similar influence on sister brands 1921 Denim and Bootheel Trading Co. by Sheryl Crow (for which Silver also serves as president). 

“Our history is from a manufacturing side, so we craft our jeans with the same expectations as a good automobile or a piece of furniture or a lovely watch,” says Silver.

“Technically we’re very sound—we know the attributes of fabric and equipment and materials, so that is a huge head-start for us against the competition.”

All that expertise has come in handy in recent years: First the company expanded its product line to include women’s knit and woven tops and outerwear; it followed that up with a line of men’s tops that launched earlier this year in time for fall 2011.

The men’s line—like the company itself—has its roots in the past, inspired by blue-collar work clothes of the Depression era, and by the proto-hipsters of the ‘50s rockabilly scene. Not surprisingly, all the pieces look great when paired with jeans.

“Whenever we design a top, we have our jeans inches away from it, and whenever we design a jean, we have our tops inches away,” says Silver. “That way, we can visualize our consumer.” 

In recent months, the efforts to build up the Silver Jeans brand have also resulted in a number of new partnerships, among them a sponsorship deal with race car driver David Richert, a fellow Winnipeg native. It’s Silver’s hope that the heightened profile—coupled with Silver Jeans’ mid-range price point ($90 - $105) and of course, commitment to quality–will help the brand maintain its foothold in the fashion marketplace.

“When you ask a consumer about Silver Jeans, they usually don’t talk about the emotional things,” he says. “But they do talk about how great they are—or how precious, as might be the case.”

Watch for the summer issue of Winnipeg Men Magazine for more on Silver Jeans-sponsored race car driver David Richert.