It’s time.

That’s what Amy Williams, chief executive officer of Citizens of Humanity Group, believes about growing the company’s presence in menswear.

The Los Angeles-based company, which got its start in the premium denim business in 2003, has become a major player in the women’s business, offering everything from dresses and embroidered tops to maternity wear.

But while the brand has offered men’s since the beginning under its Citizens of Humanity label, the category still accounts for only about 5 percent of overall sales. Men’s is even a newer addition to the company’s Agolde fashion label, which began offering some styles for guys around one-and-a-half years ago.

“We’ve turned our attention to menswear in the last two years,” Williams said. “We felt really good about where we were with both our women’s divisions and saw men’s as a big opportunity for both of those brands in very different ways.”

She described Citizens as a “quiet, luxurious” brand that is “all about quality and giving guys a complete, versatile wardrobe” that can take them from the office to the weekends. Agolde is more fashion-forward, targeted to a customer “who really loves making a statement in fashion,” and is seeking pieces that are “more directional and overt.”

The Citizens men’s customer is generally 30 and older willing to invest in high-quality, versatile investment wardrobe pieces while the Agolde man is younger and in tune with popular culture.

She said Citizens is four times the size of Agolde, but sales of the more fashion-forward offering are more than doubling every month. Among the retailers that carry Agolde are Mr Porter, Ssense and Holt Renfrew, while Citizens is carried at Selfridges, Harrods, Bloomingdale’s, Rothmans and Martin Patrick, “stores that tend to have a bit more of a classic men’s customer.”

Denim continues to be an anchor of both brands, with Agolde “very focused on fashion bottoms,” she said, with pant offerings in a variety of colors along with non-denim silhouettes. She said the collection offers everything from “a really cool flat-front ‘80s-inspired fit to knits,” with 70 percent of the business centered around bottoms and 30 percent around tops.

At Citizens, the percentage of bottoms is even higher, representing 85 percent of sales, she said, with a focus on both denim and other fabrications that the brand offers in five-pocket silhouettes. That includes canvas, linen, French terry, twill and sateen.

“A big part of the focus and success is our fabric stories,” Williams said, singling out the cashmere denim that the brand introduced for men last year. The fabrics are sourced in Italy and Japan, the products are manufactured in Turkey and retail for a higher price than traditional denim. For example, the cashmere denim pants retail for $258 to $278 while a regular denim jean averages $198 to $228.

The cashmere denim, and men’s in general, performs especially well in the company’s own store and online.

“We have our one retail store in Aspen and then of course our direct-to-consumer site,” she said, “and in those channels, men’s is actually about 40 percent of the business. And they tend to buy multiple pieces. And in those channels, tops represent 30 to 40 percent of the total business.” As a result, the company is adding categories such as polo shirts, waffle thermals and outerwear to meet demand for products other than denim, and to boost sales.

This is the case within the wholesale channel as well, she said, pointing to Bloomingdale’s, which installed soft shops for the brand and is rolling it out to more doors. “It really demonstrates the interest and opportunities in both the business itself and menswear with a mix of ready-to-wear and bottoms.”

She said the industry in general is moving away from just focusing on being a “denim destination with walls or tables of five-pocket jeans. I think when customers appreciate a look from a brand, they want to wear those products head to toe.”

Right now the company only operates the one store in Aspen but Williams believes there’s opportunity to expand its retail footprint in the future. “We intend to open select stores in other markets over time,” she said. “It comes down to like finding the right location in the right markets with the right financial considerations.”

The Aspen store carries primarily Citizens merchandise but about 15 percent is Agolde and there are also some third-party brands.

She said the company selected Aspen for its first store because the mountain town attracts an affluent customer from around the country and internationally. “So it’s a great showcase for the brand and for people around the world to see.”

But for now, the focus is on growing men’s within the wholesale channel — both with strong department stores as well as specialty stores. “As a company, we’ve always been very specialty store and e-comm-focused and we’ve worked with select department stores. The folks that we look for are great merchants who deliver a really strong, edited [assortment] and in-store experience. Then we work to become more important in those locations, whether it’s with events or pop-ups or trunk shows or installations. But I do see a lot of opportunity with specialty stores in the next couple of years.”

Toward that end, the brand will show at the Chicago Collective next month — the must-attend show for the men’s specialty industry — where it expects to see 120 accounts over the four-day run.

Williams said she believes there’s “an opportunity to build more presence in the stores we’re in and better define what each brand offers so when customers go into retail environments or shop online, the men’s brands are front and forward with a product offer and quality-price equation that is better than anyone in the market. Clothing has gotten extremely expensive over the last five years and I think men in particular are looking for beautifully made product that makes sense at the price we put it out for, and I believe we do that.”

In addition, the company will continue to innovate in order to stand out. She said next year, Citizens will introduce a tropical denim to expand its reach.

And ensuring the fit is right will also remain paramount. “Our Citizens design team is meticulous about fit, and on the Agolde side, we’re bringing the same message, but through a fashion lens.”

These goals are also expected to resonate outside the U.S. During the recently completed Paris Men’s Fashion Week, the company officially opened a showroom in the City of Light. “It was the only market that we served that didn’t have a permanent showroom or team,” she said, adding that the company would rent space during market and then exit. “It didn’t really allow us to serve all of the men’s market or the different geographic territories.”

In addition to the showroom, the company brought in staff that will be based there.

Citizens also has showrooms in London, Milan, Düsseldorf, Munich and Amsterdam and a two-person team in Japan to service its international business, which represents 32 percent of sales. Europe alone is around 20 percent of the business, she said.

Despite the volatile international climate, she said that because Citizens owns its own factories in Los Angeles and Turkey and has longstanding relationships overseas, it is able to work closely with its partners to navigate the ever-changing climate and try to make it work for everyone.

“Because we are a brand who prides ourselves on quality and longevity — whether it’s owning our factories or managing sales around the world — it helps us even more in these difficult times,” she said.