G-Star Leads a Migration to Broadway

In the Flatiron District, fashion and home furnishings seemed to have an agreement. Fashion would take Fifth Avenue while home furnishings and furniture would populate the stretch of Broadway below 23rd street. Union Square with its Greenmarket was left to a mixed bag of restaurants and miscellany like Barnes & Noble and the Virgin Megastore. But now, denim is making a calculated assault on Broadway with the opening salvo being fired by Dutch denim giant G-Star across the street from mainstay ABC Carpet and Home. This is G-Star's second store in the city after its larger SoHo unit, and they are doing their best to solidify their presence in the U.S. before the premium denim market collapses completely. As denim fiends find their closets filling up with jeans, the once unstoppable demand for the latest labels has cooled, and while it once seemed that prices for coveted brands knew no upper limit, customers have finally started balking at yet another pair for $300 or more while dramatically lower priced lines like Cheap Monday have started poping up in places like Barneys Co-op. This puts G-Star in a good position. With international cachet and relatively restrained prices (most models are well under $200) and they have avoided the overexposure and burnout of lines like Seven for All Mankind, and provide an alternative to the ubiquitous Diesel. The new store provides a sleek backdrop to their signature high-tech/military look with wood and brushed steel acents, placing the emphasis on their men's collection with women's styles pushed to the back. With Italian co-brands Miss Sixty/Energie set to open soon in the old Lord & Taylor building at 20th and Broadway, a denim invasion appears to be well underway. Can ABC and its colleagues hold them off?
G-Star Raw 873 Broadway, Flatiron/Union Square