If you don't know about Raleigh Denim, and your job involves branding (or extremely cool jeans), the company is worth looking into.
Founders, co-owners and spouses Victor and Sarah Lytvinenko visited McKinney yesterday to share their story. NC State students with fashion backgrounds and a clear goal: to make the perfect pair of jeans. After selling a mountain bike and video camera to get a starting budget of some $5,000, they put the brand above all else. They committed to using local materials. To making the jeans with their own hands on original, vintage machines, with established methods that ensure a high level of craftsmanship. To ensuring simple style, comfort and durability.
All this means the jeans ain't cheap. But Victor and Sarah seem completely comfortable with that. And when you buy a pair, it feels like a special present for you and you only. They stamp every pair of jeans so you know which small batch it came from. And Victor and Sarah sign every pair as well on the inside liner.
And the more you wear them, the more they look like jeans made just for you. At McKinney they showed us a pair of brand new RD jeans, never worn. And then a pair of jeans Victor has worn for some time. Sarah showed us creases where Victor's cell phone and wallet were and how the shape fit his body perfectly (or as close as jeans can get to a "perfect" fit).
Raleigh Denim has been written up in places like Elle Magazine, the News and Observer and treehugger.com, and have appeared on WUNC's The State of Things with Frank Stasio. The story apparently is so compelling that the business is taking care of itself. Barney's apparently can't keep them on the shelf. The challenge now is figuring out how fast they want to grow.
Victor and Sarah don't have MBAs from Harvard. They haven't cut their teeth at high-powered consulting firms or (dare I say) advertising agencies. But Victor and Sarah clearly embrace the key principles of successful brands: know who you are and pursue that without compromise. And don't try to be all things to all people, but be something powerful to someone.
When McKinney President Jeff Jones asked what the Barney's buyer said was the main reason their customers were buying Raleigh Denim (even in a Recession), Sarah said, "Because they crave authenticity."
Not a bad reminder.
