"I want women to be able to look at someone and say, 'I want to look like that,' " said McCall, 36, the retailer-turned-denim-designer known as the Jeans Whisperer because of his ability to find flawlessly fitting pants for women. "And then I want her to try on my jeans and for her to see they can fit like that."
In other words, perfectly.
McCall, whose full name is Sebastian Charles Porter McCall, quietly rolled out his premium denim line in May. The jeans start at $165 and go to $198. And of the roughly 1,000 pairs of jeans he sells from his Old City store each month, 52 percent have been his signature pant.
That's serious business in a specialty boutique that offers of-the-moment lines J Brand, Joe's Jeans, and Paige Premium Denim.
To date, McCall has manufactured 8,000 pairs from a California-based premium-denim plant and is on target to make 8,000 more before the end of the year. And starting Wednesday morning, they will be available at his new second location, the 2,200-square-foot Charlie's Jeans at 1735 Chestnut St.
Thanks to the recession, clothing sales nationwide have been dismal. Locally, favorite fashion haunts such as Pants in Ardmore, Leehe Fai in Center City, and Tony on Third in Old City have closed.
Yet over the last two years, new stores like Rittenhouse Square's SA VA, run by local designer Sarah Van Aken, and Carmelita Greco's edgy Old City boutique Carmelita Couture, have popped up. In February, New York-based Brooklyn Industries opened a Philadelphia location on Walnut Street showcasing the designs of owner Lexy Funk.
Much like the Main Line's own Tory Burch, these businesses are flourishing because the owners are the designer, manufacturer, and merchandiser. Fashion is saving costs by cutting out the middleman.
