Inside Market Week: Lee® and Wrangler® Give Retailers an Early Look at Spring 2020 Collections

By: Kontoor Brands News Team Jun 25, 2019 Feature Story Tags: Performance, Product

Market Week isn’t a fashion show—it’s a fashion conversation. And for the Lee® and Wrangler® marketing and merchandising teams, it’s an opportunity to live Kontoor’s mission: To grow our iconic brands through innovation, design and sustainable performance to excite more and more consumers.

Market Week takes place multiple times a year in New York City, one of the world’s largest hubs for fashion and design. At Market Week, the brand teams meet with retail partners to engage in conversations about what’s next in fashion trends, sales processes and consumer habits—all things that inform how we design, produce and market products.

Our Lee and Wrangler brand teams recently returned from Market Week, where they met with retailers to provide a look at our brands’ Spring 2020 collections.

“Market Week is more than us sharing our collections and vision for the next season,” said Heather Caldwell, Senior Brand Manager, Lee®. “It’s also an opportunity to engage in two-way dialogue, listen to retailers and gain valuable insights that inform our future designs and innovations.”

Through interactive showrooms and exhibits, the Lee and Wrangler teams brought the shopping experience to life, giving our retail partners an immersive look at future collections and products.

Many themes emerged from market week. In particular, consumers crave choice, and right now, they’re looking back in time for retro inspiration. And with the world growing increasingly casual, consumers are turning to products that maintain a flattering fit and quality construction— for both work and play. Our Wrangler Premium and Lee Vintage Modern Collections revitalize the past in contemporary ways, while also providing the comfort that consumers are looking for.

“Casualization continues to impact the way consumers spend.  Employers, even those considered ‘traditional’ and ‘formal,’ are relaxing their workplace dress codes.  This impacts how we curate lifestyle apparel collections,” says Jamie Fason, Director, Merchandising, Wrangler. “When they ditch the suits, we want to dress them in a great pair of our jeans.”

The brands also heard from retailers about consumers’ growing desire for more sustainable goods and their need to meet that request through responsible supply chains. Our answer? Wrangler’s Indigood and Rooted collections, two expanding lines that are raising the bar on what consumers can expect when it comes to sustainable fashion. Through Indigood, Wrangler introduced a foam-dye technology that eliminates 100 percent of water in denim dyeing, while the Rooted collection features products made of 100 percent local, sustainable cotton.

Events like Market Week help the Lee and Wrangler brands ensure they are poised to deliver products that excite consumers and make a positive impact on the world.