Goodbye Levi’s, hello yoga pants: Sales of jeans plummet 6 percent

The jean business is far from dead — but it is facing some stiff opposition from an even more casual closet addition, the yoga pant.

And sales of jeans have dropped by 6 percent in the year that just ended in June, the market research firm NPD Group found, The Associated Press reported. That still gives jean-makers and sellers a $16 billion haul — but yoga pant manufacturers are coming on strong.

“Yoga pants have replaced jeans in my wardrobe,” said Anita Ramaswamy, a Scottsdale, Ariz., high school senior, AP reported. “You can make it as sexy as skinny jeans and it’s more comfortable.”

Levi Strauss — the inventor of the blue jean 141 years ago — admits that “athleisure” wear is taking a bite of profits. So the jean company has responded with a competitive bid of “stretchy” jeans, hoping to copycat the comfort of the yoga pant, AP reported.

“If casualization is what everyone is looking for, we can push the innovation,” said James Curleigh, president of the Levi’s brand, in AP.