With apologies to Sydney Sweeney, whose American Eagle ad somehow landed her an unwitting role as a right-wing Republican avatar—good luck!—the premium denim market is better, and more crowded, than ever. You can walk into almost any department store, or multibrand retailer, and find every silhouette imaginable—barrel jeans, straight legs, relaxed fits, boyfriend cuts. Instead, brands looking to differentiate their denim today need to compete on fit: the ability to make jeans that flatter the widest range of body types, feel genuinely good to wear, and turn first-time buyers into loyalists. But increasingly, this expertise isn’t a brand asset—it’s a talent asset, living within the creative directors and designers.