 | Though jeans may be found in every corner of the globe, there's a world of difference from pair to pair. Just take a look at the snapshots of denim-clad people from several international cities that are splashed across these pages. Cotton Incorporated's team of fashion forecasters have long trained their camera lenses on the denim trendsetters from Amsterdam to Tokyo and all points between.
0ne caveat: it’s not always possible to look at the jeans in the photos and know their country of origin. For instance, a Japanese woman photographed in Paris could be wearing a pair of American jeans that she purchased in London. The breadth of global retailing has made the same products available in Europe, Japan and the
United States.
 But just because the international picture of denim is blurred, doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t some differences from country to country.
“We look for strong directional looks that can be translated into something that American denim manufacturers and designers can use,” says Kathryn Novakovic, director, the cottonworks® Fabric Library. “The photos are important tools to help create newness in the denim market here.”
What is of particular interest to our forecasters on their travels is to see how people personalize their jeans and how they wear denim.
 “We take to the streets because, in the denim market, there’s a real trickle up effect in fashion,” adds Novakovic.
Youth in Japan, for example, see a pair of jeans as a piece of artwork and will customize them with patches and elaborate cutouts. In Korea, our forecasters report a lot of fraying, ripping and shredding going on as a part of a punk rock resurgence. For American youth, it’s all about the power of jean brands, so personal expression isn’t widely found here. Nonetheless, there is a lot that American denim manufacturers can glean from youth culture in Asia. For instance, they might create the illusion of customization via bleaching, heavy abrasion or some machine-applied painting.
 It’s of equal interest to denim manufacturers when our forecasters spot the fabric being worn in unexpected ways. One noted seeing, in London, a well-turned out businesswoman wearing a fitted jean jacket in a very formal and buttoned down way. Denim has been climbing the corporate ladder for a few years now, but by focusing attention on the trend, denim makers can make changes to the silhouette, color and other details to appeal to a wider market. “We look for strong directional looks that can be translated
into something that American denim manufacturers and designers can use.”
KATHRYN NOVAKOVIC
Director, the cottonworks® Fabric Library
 Some trends are the same here as they are overseas, they just find different expression. Take, for example, “whiskering,” a bleaching technique that is applied anywhere jeans would normally wear first. In the U.S., you see it typically across the front waist area. Claire Dupuis, one of our New York-based forecasters, reports that in Italy there is a lot of bleaching at the seat of the jeans, whereas in Amsterdam, whiskering has moved down to the ankle. According to our fashion team, this technique will still be used in the United States, but the effect will appear in a more stylized way in other areas of jeans.
Not everything global, however, makes it in the States in a big way. In her recent travels to Europe, Dupuis observed numerous overdyed effects on jeans, particularly in purple and green casts. “You’ll see some overdyeing
here, primarily in the urban youth market, but the colors will be less intense,” she says, “because Americans, in general, are not as comfortable with color.”
So what big trend is America sharing with the world?
 The medium-rise jean, which has a four-to-five inch zipper. “It’s a jean that most women look good wearing,” says Novakovic. It is also America’s answer to the low-rise jean with a two-to-three inch zipper that took Brazil by storm a few years back. “Mid-rise jeans are so hot, stores abroad can’t keep them in stock,” adds Novakovic, “or in the United States for that matter.”
Therein lies the irony. So much denim innovation comes far from our shores and yet American brands continue to be highly prized throughout the world. “Everyone knows jeans were an American invention,” says Dupuis by way of explanation. “There’s a certain cachet to owning the real deal.”
 They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if our street scenes are any indication, there is a new kind of foreign exchange going on in jeans. It’s what makes the world of fashion go round and round.
“Everyone knows jeans were an American invention. There’s
a certain cachet to owning the real deal.”
CLAIRE DUPUIS
Cotton Incorporated
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