Dive Brief:

• Lee Jeans is rebranding with the launch of a new fall line and its “Move Your Lee” campaign that features a “light-hearted approach to the concept of movement," according to a release.
• The rebrand includes a national TV campaign, a re-designed website, a new in-store experience, and additional support through public relations and digital channels.
• "We're putting a stake in the ground to reclaim Lee's status as an iconic brand, with a renewed emphasis on design and innovation through our 'Move Your Lee' rebranding," Kim Yates, Vice President of Marketing at Lee Jeans, said in a statement. "Many Americans remember Lee from the 90's, but that's not who we are anymore. We have to live up to Lee's rich heritage and ensure that our brand is as relevant as our products are."

Dive Insight:

Rebrands can completely refresh a brand — especially a brand looking to reach a new demographic — but they can also create more negative buzz for brands if they fall flat. 

Uber recently faced the latter scenario with a rebrand that left users and industry insiders scratching their heads. The move was driven internally almost exclusively by Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick during a time when the company was under fire on a number of fronts. An unnecessary rebrand probably wasn’t the best use of Kalanick’s time.

Another rebrand that fell flat was when media company and newspaper publisher Tribune Publishing announced its new focus on becoming a “a content curation and monetization company focused on creating and distributing premium, verified content across all channels." To widespread confusion and laughter in media circles, the resulting company was renamed tronc, a name meant to represent “Tribune online content.”

Lee Jeans hopes its rebrand can help reintroduce the brand to a new generation of consumers. Its campaign features quirky TV spots that show the Lee Man and Lee Woman wearing jeans while being active in humorous ways, such as couch skiing and kicking a pinata. 

The iconic, more-than-125-year-old denim brand and other jean-makers (such as Levi's) have struggled with the growth of athleisure during the last decade. The transition to skinny jeans and leggings seen during the first decade of the new century helped mainstream a slimmer silhouette, and that trend continued with athleisure. Last year, denim represented 8% of the apparel market, according to NPD data, but activewear was reaching 4% of the overall market and growing.