Advertising Age: 7 for All Mankind jeans a decade top 10

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The end of the year is usually crammed full of so many lists we can’t even pay attention, and this year the list landscape is especially cluttered thanks to the ‘end of decade’ lists everyone feels compelled to compile.

But Advertising Age’s ‘New Products of the Decade’ list caught our attention. It wasn’t because of the expected entries -- tech innovations such as the Apple iPod and Toyota’s Prius. And it wasn’t for the unexpected head-scratchers like Axe body spray and Subway’s $5 foot long. (Really? The first decade of the 21st century will be remembered for an innovation like selling a 12-inch sandwich for a five spot?) It was for the sole piece of clothing to make the cut: Los Angeles-based 7 For All Mankind jeans.

Ranking at number 10, the entry reads, in part:

The label, based in downtown Los Angeles, was started after denim designers Michael Glasser and Jerome Dahan brought their concept for high-end jeans (focusing on fit, fabric and washes) to financial backer Peter Koral.

And if 7 wasn’t the very first label to make its name by pushing premium-priced jeans (some point to Earl Jean as another contender for the crown), it was undeniably successful at catering to the demand -- seven years later, Koral and his investment partners sold the company to VF Corp. for a reported $775 million.

Does that make it one of the decade’s best new products? Advertising Age seems to think so -- and compared with the footlong sub we’d have to agree -- but we can’t help but think there’s been at least one other innovative product to emerge from the world of fashion and style in the last 10 years that deserves a spot on the list instead of Crest Whitestrips or Activia yogurt.

Any suggestions?

-- Adam Tschorn

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