Topless Jeans Make the Scene

Fast sales from a big tease and a tight squeeze

Obviously topless but discreetly shaded in the mist, a modern Lady Godiva clad only in blue jeans rides a stallion beside the roiling sea. A bare-chested man jumps on the horse with her and together they ride off, silhouetted in the sunset. Though all three TV networks rejected this sexy commercial for Jordache jeans, it made a debut on three independent New York City stations last week. Similar print ads featuring tame if teasing topless couples wearing only Jordache jeans have blossomed in women's magazines and the Sunday New York Times. The Times at first refused the ad, but Jordache President Joseph Nakash ultimately persuaded the paper's guardians of taste that the ads merely emphasize his fancy pants. "Yes, it is sexy," he admits of the TV commercial. Then he adds with a straight face, "I think people like to be attracted. People love horses!"

Splashy, seductive ads have enabled Jordache to make a quick hit in the lucrative market for pricey (about $35 a pair), high-styled jeans that carry the labels of famous designers. Total jeans sales are running 10% ahead of last year, with designer jeans up more than 30%. Compared with the old, proletarian Levi's, which retail for around $20, the designer models are more form-fitting and have fancier stitching and other touches. Until last spring, the market was dominated by Gloria Vanderbilt, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and other names synonymous with class and cash. But Jordache? The name (pronounced Jor-dash) is a loose acronym for three immigrant Israeli brothers, Joseph, Ralph and Avi Nakash, who have taken a faddish product and promoted it overnight into a multimillion-dollar business.

Joseph Nakash, 36, came to the U.S. in 1962 with $25 in his pocket, slept in a bus station, got a job as a $40-a-week stock boy, and brought his brothers over in 1966. They opened a jeans store in Brooklyn. The brothers worked hard, branched out, saved up $300,000 and determined to get richer by manufacturing the better blue jean. Ralph, 35, styled a tight-fitting jean with pocket stitching that was to be made under contract in Hong Kong, and Avi, 33, set up a distribution system. Early last year Joseph offered high pay to hire the best salesmen that he could find, and they went out to flog the line. Once they got $1 million in orders, bankers gave him big loans. Daringly, he plowed most of the money into advertising--$3 million since January--and wrote much of the copy himself.

Joseph Nakash placed expensive local commercials ($6,000 for 30 seconds) on 60 Minutes and other news programs that he figured retailers and consumers would be watching. Explains Nakash: "Psychologically it looked like there was a big company behind Jordache. The strategy worked. I started getting calls from buyers." Now Jordache is shipping about 200,000 pairs of jeans a month, or $3.5 million worth at wholesale. Aimed primarily at the disco set, Jordache jeans are selling in 3,000 stores in many parts of the country. Like the stallion, Jordache is running away with business.

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