APPAREL Long a staple for working people, Dickies clothes become trendy

Young shoppers like Dickies pants because they are durable, plain and cheap.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
In one of fashion's weirder pairings, punk rockers and skateboarders have for years stocked their closets with Dickies apparel, a brand of work clothes with deep blue-collar roots.
Now, with rock groups such as Limp Bizkit and Alien Ant Farm wearing Dickies, the brand's appeal has broadened to ensnare a growing number of male consumers for whom "anti-fashion" is a fashion statement.
Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co., based in Fort Worth, Texas, says it logged triple-digit increases in sales of young men's apparel in each of the last three years. Los Angeles-based Apparel Limited Inc., which four years ago snagged the license to make a Dickies Girl line, projects that retail sales of its products will hit $100 million this year.
But while hip young consumers are snapping up Dickies at trendy Hot Topic and PacSun stores, Williamson-Dickie doesn't seek out hipsters for design tips. Instead, it consults with plumbers, builders, mechanics and electricians, the folks who have kept it in business for eight decades.
"Our designers are the guys who dig in the dirt, crawl under the cars and plow the fields," spokesman Jon Ragsdale said. "That's who we go to to get new ideas."
Longer shirttails to cover plumbers' bottoms and deeper pockets to keep mechanics' tools from falling out when a worker is wedged under a car chassis have been some of the worker-inspired innovations.
Young male shoppers say they like Dickies basic work pants -- with their roomy, stovepipe legs -- because they're durable, plain and cheap.
"I've been skating in these for about a year and they've held up really well, said Andy Summers, 18, showing off the $18 pants he wore to work at Vans Skate Park in Orange, Calif. "Kids don't want to pay $30 for a pair of pants at the mall."
This is not the first time Dickies has enjoyed an upsurge in popularity. The brand has claimed a variety of devotees in the past, including the street gangs of Los Angeles. The phenomenon is an example of "brand hijacking," which occurs when consumers infuse meaning into a product that the manufacturer never intended, said Alex Wipperfurth, a partner at Plan B, a marketing firm in San Francisco.