Jeans maker looks for buyer before denim fad fades. (Up Front).

In another sign that the denim craze has been taken over by big-name manufacturers, a local maker of girls and junior blue jeans is feverishly shopping itself around to cash in while the fashion is still hot, according to industry sources.

Paris Blues Inc., a Rancho Dominquez company, is expected to be the latest acquisition target of major East Coast companies that have been cherry picking the smaller trendy L.A. jean makers for the past three years.

"Paris Blues is desperately trying to get sold," said one fashion industry source.

The company, run by Jose Quant and his family, is considered a key player in the local market and competes stiffly in its market segment. Quant did not return phone calls.

A likely buyer might be VF Corp., the nation's No. 1 jean maker known for such brands as Wrangler and Lee. The North Carolina company announced two weeks ago that it was hunting for a trendy jean brand to acquire. When contacted, a spokeswoman would not say whether the company was interested in Paris Blues, only confirming that VF was pursuing acquisitions.

If sold, Paris Blues will be the latest in a line of L.A. denim makers to change hands since Liz Claiborne bought an 85 percent stake in Vernon-based Lucky Brand Dungarees in 1999. L.A. long has had many of the nation's most innovative teen apparel designers.

Last year, New York-based Nautica Enterprises Inc. bought Earl Jean Inc., maker of $100 low fit jeans from Ben and Suzanne Freiwald for $45 million in cash and over 1 million stock shares. Just recently, Jones Apparel Group Inc. completed a $309-million deal to acquire RSV Sport Inc., a Los Angeles company that makes l.e.i. jeans for women and girls.

"The East Coast companies are all looking to the West Coast for new designs and innovations," said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association. "They are looking West for their acquisitions, which is the only way for them to grow."

And to grow it has to be in the area of denim.

Known commodities

That's why John Paul Richards Inc., the Calabasas-based company that manufactures missy wear, bought Fever Jeans last year. Richard Hirsh, co-president and co-chairman, said it would have taken too long to develop a hot new denim brand.

The company found Los Angeles-based Fever Jeans. "We have very little experience with denim, let alone fashion denim. By buying Fever Jeans, we bypass a lot of learning and short cut through all their mistakes and end up with a product they know how to make."

Denim has fueled rapid growth for several small L.A. apparel companies. Dickies, which has the license to make Dickiegirls for "tweens," has seen sales zoom from $2 million to $25 million in one year, said Bruce Berton, a partner at Stonefield Josephson Inc., a Santa Monica company that provides financial advice to textile and apparel manufacturers.

David Sack, primarily a leather belt manufacturer, branched out with a new denim line last year.

His Los Angeles company, D & R Designs, launched the label Blue Genius for the 25-to-55 year-old woman who shops at places like Barney's and doesn't mind plunking down $110 to $140 for a pair of jeans. Since launching the line in November, the company has sold about $1.7 million worth of jeans.

The company is trying to establish a brand name that will be as popular as Earl Jeans or l.e.i. Sack has hired a New York publicist to generate a bit of buzz about the line.

The goal is to sell the Blue Genius brand and make a handsome profit. "If we're successful and build up a clientele," he said, "I imagine someone down the line will say to us, 'Is your business for sale?'"

Paris Blues is considered a key player in the denim market and a likely acquisition for a hungry apparel company eager to enter the junior market without spending capital to develop its own brand. According to a recent survey conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, 43 percent of girls ages 12 to 19 bought l.e.i. jeans last year, and 22 percent bought a pair of Paris Blues jeans.

"They have an incredible product and longevity in the junior world. They are very innovative," said Sandy Potter, a principal with Directives West, a Los Angeles retail consulting firm.

When the first animal print jeans came on the market several years ago, it was done by Paris Blues, whose designer is Caroline Quant.

Given the popularity of the brand and the breadth of its distribution in Kohl's and J.C. Penney, financial consultants estimate Paris Blues' annual sales at around $130 million.