Designer denims have been floored by cult name labels, with obscure niche brands jumping on high-end denim bandwagon.
Earlier it was forever blue jeans.
These days, it's got to be cult premium denims.
The hipster's cool blue jeans aren't regular Levi's or Giordano selection, or even high-priced designer Guccis or Versaces.
Well informed take their cue from celebrities like Cameron Diaz, catching on to latest 'It' pair from a constantly changing niche names like Earnest Sewn, Tsubi and True Religion.
Where is the need to show-off designer monograms when a fellow fashionista can be impressed with subtlety of a cult brand insignia, embroidered on your derriere?
The changeover from humble indigo twilled-cotton trousers to high-end, butt-enhancing symbol of cool kicked off in 1980s, in the form of high-waisted numbers by Calvin Klein, Jordarche and Armani.
Designer jeans were given a run for the denim dollar in 2000 when three apparel business veterans developed jeans for fashion connoisseurs, priced around US$150, called 7 For All Mankind.
That's a lot of money, but it is cheaper than going in for a designer pair costing $1,000.
That is how the cult of premium jeans began its forward march.
From paparazzi-stalked socialite to fashion magazine-reading receptionist think nothing of spending several hundred dollars on a pair of cult label jeans.
“Customers buy our jeans because they know the brands and labels like Evisu and RMC are the Guccis and LVs in street-wear,” says Mr Samuel Cheong, owner of Redwolves.
Jeans market is estimated to be worth 7 billion dollars a year in Asia, according to 2002 figures by Levi's Strauss.
But will this exponential premium denim growth wear out its welcome amid continual changing trends?
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
