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Lee Jeans is over a century old, but it\u2019s trying to remain hip with younger generations.<\/p>\n
One way it does this is with collaborations. For example, the apparel brand recently worked with the menswear company Brooklyn Circus on a new joint collection. The products are an update on some of Lee\u2019s oldest designs \u2014 an attempt to bridge a heritage brand with something newer.<\/p>\n
According to Chris Waldeck, evp and co-chief operating officer at Lee\u2019s parent company Kontoor Brands, the philosophy behind these types of collaborations is to tell a story that one brand alone couldn\u2019t tell. \u201cThere\u2019s no connection between Brooklyn Circus and Lee,\u201d Waldeck. The strategy behind joining to disparate brands is \u201cbringing them together to tell a fantastic story and to make some great products.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waldeck joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and spoke about the denim brand\u2019s updated strategy. Lee has been around since 1889, but has had its ups and downs. Lee used to be a part of VF Corporation, which owns brands like North Face and Timberland. But in 2019, VF spun out both Lee and Wrangler to their own parent company Kontoor.<\/p>\n
Now, the company is focused on bringing Lee to new \u2014 and younger \u2014 shoppers. A lot of that, he said, is about finding Gen Z on new platforms, and figuring out ways to make its products accessible to youth audiences.<\/p>\n
Waldeck joined Lee in 2017. He said his mandate was \u201cto energize the brand.\u201d At the time, he said, \u201cwe had gotten old and our consumer was getting older.\u201d As such, he\u2019s spent the last five years trying to give the legacy brand a facelift of sorts.<\/p>\n
The challenge, he said, has been keeping with Lee\u2019s legacy and styles while still reaching new people. To make it even more difficult, the strategy isn\u2019t the same around the world. For example, China, which is one of Lee\u2019s biggest markets, has a markedly different selling and marketing strategy than the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat underpins [our approach] is a really strategic approach to segmentation,\u201d said Waldeck. \u201cAnd that goes back to our icons, to our archives and how we think about the different products that we bring through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n
Waldeck\u2019s approach to energizing the Lee brand<\/strong> Lee\u2019s China strategy<\/strong> How Waldeck approaches collabs<\/strong>
\u201c[My mandate] was to energize the brand, and it was to get the brand back on track. We had gotten old and our consumer was getting older every day. And so, for us, it was really about putting new life into the brand \u2014 getting it laser focused on its strategy, on its icons and celebrating those. When I think about what we\u2019ve done with the brand, it\u2019s really looking at the brand through a modern lens, but without losing sight of who we are, and what really makes the brand so strong and so iconic out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLee is the number one premium denim brand in China, we have over 600 mono-brand retail stores throughout China, and really tell a premium experience for consumers throughout China. We license the brand and work through distributors through other markets throughout Southeast Asia. But, again, those markets are primarily a mono-brand experience with Lee stores and shop-in-shops and the rest of it around those different marketplaces. A big element with that is digital, and the role that e-commerce plays into it \u2014 if it\u2019s T-mall, if it\u2019s Flipkart in India and the rest of it. So making sure that we\u2019re looking at that entire ecosystem and how we\u2019re connecting with consumers for us is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the case of collaborations you want one plus one to equal four, not one plus one to equal two\u2026 I\u2019ll use the Coca-Cola one as an example that we did over in China. You go back to 130 years ago, HD Lee and the Coke Corporation worked together and all the delivery men who used to deliver Coke\u2026 Lee made the uniforms for all the Coke delivery drivers back in the day. And there\u2019s documentation in the Coke archives and in ours of memos going back and forth between them. And so there was a natural connection there. And I think that\u2019s what\u2019s so important. And what kids are looking for today is the story behind these products, and the story behind why this exists.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n