Premium jeans are a chic — and profitable — addition to department stores when consumers flush with cash are willing to shell out over $200 per pair. But when the economy goes south, stores and shoppers start to balk.
    
On Tuesday, VF Corp, maker of 7 For All Mankind jeans, said that brand’s total business was down about 10 percent in the quarter, thanks to the weak U.S. wholesale environment.
    
“It is absolutely a piece of the market that has been most challenged in this economy and that is the more premium luxury sector,” Chief Executive Eric Wiseman told analysts in a call following the release of first-quarter results, which were lower than the year-ago quarter.
    
7 For All Mankind competes with a small group of premium brands including True Religion, which announces quarterly results in early May.
    
The brand is sold in specialty shops, some of which are shuttering their doors in the recession, and upper-tier department stores, including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.
 
“You see their comps so you see how they’re struggling right now to get traffic into the store,” Wiseman said.
    
VF’s international jeans business, too, is struggling for a good fit with the global economy. 
    
The company, which makes Wrangler and Lee jeans sold around the world, said it was lowering its full-year earnings guidance in large part due to “a severe contraction” in the economies of Scandinavia and Eastern European countries, where jeans are apparently not at the top of the shopping list.

Check Out Alaska Gov. and hockey mom Sarah Palin, who’s not only John McCain’s vice presidential pick, but a luxury fashion maverick.

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 since late August to outfit Palin and her family in the fanciest of duds from department stores like Saks and Neiman Marcus, says politico.com.

The financial disclosure records, included under the line item “itemized coordinated expenditures,” show RNC expenditures at Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York of $49,425.74 in September. Based on Saks’  September comparable-store sales of $273.2 million,  Palin accounted for .018 percent of sales.

The RNC also spent $75,062.63 during one September trip to Neiman Marcus, says politico.com, which would represent .012 percent of Neiman’s September comparable-store sales of $406 million.

The RNC spent only $789.72 at Neiman-owned Barneys New York but dropped $5,102.71 at Bloomingdale’s, which is operated by Macy’s, said politico.com, a website that tracks political news.

Hefty primping expenditures on the campaign trail are nothing new. U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, received guff for her expensive custom-made pantsuits, which cost upward of $6,350 each.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on Palin’s hair and makeup, and made $295  in purchases at high-end children’s stores Pacifier and Steiniauf & Stroller Inc., according to politico.com.

Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said there are plans to donate the expensive clothing to charity after the campaign.

“With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses,” Schmitt said in a statement.

Sales at luxury department stores have suffered in recent weeks as the slowing economy and global financial crisis took a toll on even affluent shoppers, and the strengthening of the dollar deterred foreign tourists who had given high-end stores a boost in previous quarters.

Also in the basket:

McDonald’s profit tops view; shares rise (Reuters)

PepsiAmericas Q3 profit tops Wall Street view (Reuters)

Philip Morris, Reynolds profits beat Wall St view (Reuters)

Layaway plans make a comeback in credit crunch (WSJ)

(Photo/Reuters)

Check Out Macy’s opening up shop in Dubai.

Two Bloomingdale’s department stores are scheduled to open in the United Arab Emirates’ largest city in February 2010. Macy’s, which owns the Bloomingdale’s chain, says the store’s merchandise and upscale ambiance will be similar to Bloomingdale’s in the U.S., while being ”sensitive to local preferences and customs” of the oil-rich states.

In another sign the Middle East remains a robust market for foreign retail brands, Kuwaiti retailer Villa Moda is partnering with the Dubai International Financial Center, which is owned by the Dubai government. The DIFC is buying a majority stake in Villa Moda, which operates seven multibrand shops in the Gulf region and offers high-luxury brands such as Gucci, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana. 

The two Bloomingdale’s, including a three-level clothing and accessories store and a one-level home store, will anchor The Dubai Mall, scheduled for completion later this year.

The stores will be managed and operated by Al Tayer Insignia, a company of Al Tayer Group, under a licensing agreement. Al Tayer Group operates in 12 countries in the Middle East and beyond and represents brands such as Harvey Nichols, Armani, Gucci, Emilio Pucci, Bvlgari and Boucheron, as well as stores such as Gap and Banana Republic.

Also check out:

JP Morgan cuts Buckle to neutral (Reuters)

JP Morgan starts coverage of 3 U.S. chicken producers (Reuters)

 (Photo/Reuters)