Denim Report 2022

The global denim market is predicted to spike to $76.1 billion by 2026, which is not surprising. Denim has long held a place in our closets – according to a survey, 60% of women and 56% of men say that jeans are their favorite piece of clothing and 85% of survey participants consider jeans to be a wardrobe staple. Over the years, we’ve seen denim become more and more versatile – transforming into something that is more than just an item of casual wear. From the red carpet, to the runway, to streetwear – new denim trends mean a wider selection of fits, washes, and styles along with closer attention to inclusivity and sustainable practices. Join us as we walk through the world of denim as seen in 2022.

Inclusivity

While jeans are a wardrobe staple, the struggle to find a pair of perfect fitting jeans is all too common. In fact, 70% of women and 53% of men said they have a problem finding jeans that fit well. Brands are realizing this problem in the denim industry. Good American, for example includes a size range from 00-32 – clicks for this brand on Stylight have increased by over 1000% this year. The denim brand Replay, carries unisex denim styles to support the fact that bodies come in all shapes and sizes. And on Stylight, we’ve seen clicks for this brand increase already by 42%. Searches for plus size denim have also increased by 483% in the last year and searches for unisex denim have increased by over 1000%.

Sustainability

Within the fashion industry, denim is known to be the most damaging to the environment. The reason for this is simple: denim is made from cotton and most of which are grown with particularly harmful fertilizers and pesticides. In addition, cotton also requires huge amounts of water to be produced. To manufacture a single pair of non-organic cotton jeans, it takes more than 7000 liters of water, which is the equivalent of 287 showers. An astonishing figure, knowing that nearly 2.3 billion jeans are sold in the world each year, (which is about 73 pairs per second). Faced with this sad observation, the fashion industry is trying to react and multiple brands now offer sustainable jeans. On the consumer side, people are becoming more and more aware and as a result are demanding more sustainable practices from brands. On Stylight, the search for “sustainable denim” or “sustainable jeans” has increased by more than 1000% and two brands of eco-responsible denim are doing well: MUD jeans (+44% increase in clicks) and Boyish (+42% increase in clicks)

Millennials vs Gen-Z

The “fashion battle” between Generation Z and Millennials is heating up. While Millennials stick to their high-waisted jeans, TikTok, which is clearly dominated by Gen Z, is undoubtedly dominated by the love of low-rise jeans. For this reason, we at Stylight decided to take a closer look and find out which denim trends are the most popular among our users. Gen Z,are you really sure that skinny jeans are out? In the chart on the right you can see which trends we compared and to which category they belong (Millennials or Gen Z). We compared the search interest for each trend in order to see which was the winner!

Julia Fox – The (infamous) Queen of Denim

If we take a look at some of the viral denim moments in 2022, chances are that they have something common: Julia Fox. Which is why she is our unofficial Denim Queen of 2022 – even if some of her looks were a little bit out there. But one thing is for sure, “out there” is interesting. Every time Julia Fox has been photographed in one of her infamous denim ensembles, there have been spikes in online searches for the look. Call it curiousity or confusion, we’ll show you here which looks made a special impact:

1)The viral moment Julia Fox was announced as the new girlfriend at Ye West. They took the partner look to a whole new level in a matching double denim outfit. This look led to the search interest for “double denim” on Google being twice as high (+50%) the week after their Jan. 24 appearance compared to the week before.

2) And even Julia Fox’s interesting look with a homemade denim bra resulted in online users searching for denim bras on Stylight 33% more in the two days after her appearance (than the 2 days before). Possibly also to check if this hot piece really exists. Searches for her “jean bag” also increased by 42% in the same period.

3) But even crazier was the jeans underwear outfit Julia Fox chose for her a casual visit to the supermarket. And yet, with this outfit, our (awkward) Denim Queen made sure that interest in denim jackets increased by 40% the day after her appearance (May 17, 2022), and interest in denim coats increased by 92%.

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Unless otherwise stated, the data refers to the analysis of 160 million annual Stylight shoppers on the period 1/1 – 7/31/2022 compared to the same period in 2021. The category “Julia Fox and her influence on shopping behavior” always refers to the following days after her appearance compared to the previous ones – but all this info is explicitly stated in the respective text paragraph.

written by:

Rebekah Ortquist

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