Organic Denim trend picking up?

Organic is in..
Organic clothes is getting more and more popular as environmental conciousness is increasing and the ‘return to nature’ sentiment gets stronger.I think its a very healthy direction for the fashion to take..
Organic denim is not to be left behind – in fact with denim consuming almost 17% of world cotton, it is imperative that a part of denim production moves on the Organic route.I had mentioned in my previous post regarding organic denims..
Just giving herebelow links to some of the good organic denim jeans produced worldwide:

Nudie Jeans: Besides organic cottons, they are using potato starch,natural indigo etc to make their Organic Denims. It was good to get some figures from them about damage by normal cotton “Denim is made of cotton, which causes great damage to our environment both in terms of water consumption (7000 to 29.000 litres of water for each kilogram of ready garment) and in terms of poisonous substances and insecticides. Cotton fields stand for 25% of all insecticides worldwide!”

Loomstate::Loomstate is a brand that is proud of its Organic roots . They use only organic cotton and show here how they do their organic cotton:.

Levi’s Eco: Levi’s also started its Eco line in the Fall 2006 and seems to be getting a good response to its Organic denims. They are primarily using Organic Cotton for these denims and this is what they have to say about the organic cotton used in these jeans”Organic farming practices can be used to grow natural fibers including cotton as well as food. Organic cotton farming starts with seeds that have not been genetically modified or treated with pesticides or fungicides. During the growth phase, weed control is achieved through hand hoeing or physical removal and pest control is accomplished through the use of natural predators, trap crops and other biological and cultural practices. Farmers rely on natural processes such as seasonal freezes, rather than the application of chemical defoliants, to prompt the opening of the cotton boll and allow the cotton bud to be picked by hand or machine”

7forallmankind : Sevens has just launched its Yosemite collection of Organic denims.7 For all Mankind’s first organic denim, the Yosemite is a non-stretch fabrication with subtle indigo fading weaved throughout the front and rear..Looks cool..

Sharkah Chakra : Though a relatively less known brand and available in London (Harvey Nicolas) and Paris,they take the concept of ‘organic’ a step further. They make a complete Organic Jeans ie everything from Cotton to dyes to weaving(on handlooms) . The process of producing one jeans is quite long – but the results are good..Worth checking out..

Sling & Stones : This Japanese brand uses Peruvian handpicked organic cotton – converted to Japanese Supima Denim,Dyed with natural Indigo and washed in environment friendly ozone washes.And thrown in the package are 24carat gold rivets and embroidery..Whew!

What do owners of famous Japanese brands wear?

Would’nt it be interesting to know what kind of Jeans the owners of famous Japanese denim brands like Sugarcane,Flat head, Iron Heart etc wear ?

Well just came across this video on youtube which shows the jeans worn by the owners of these brands and the length for which they wore it..Though the video does not give very good closeup of the jeans, one can just have a feel of the jeans.
Another interesting thing to note is the average period in which they washed their jeans.. It differs -From 15 days for Iron Heart owner to more than 2 months for Flat Head owner..Goes on to show that there are no set rules when it comes to washing ones jeans..

30 years ‘AG-ed’ Jeans?

AG – Andriano Goldschmied has launched a new jean label called ‘AG-ed’ Denim’..
They claim to produce a TRUE VINTAGE 3- dimensional washed look on these jeans.Currently ‘AG-ed’ is offered in 3 years,6 years,16 years and 25 years ‘AG-ed’. Slowly they will be offering in 1 to 30 years ‘AG-ed’.
The prices range from USD 205 and above.
Here is a snap of Jessica Alba and Vanessa Minnilio wearing one of the ‘AG-ed’ jeans..

Though I like the washed look on the Jeans – they are nicely washed – but there does not seem to something very extraordinary about the same..But let me lay my hands on one of them and come back with more comments.
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Source:Denimblog

Natural Indigo Dye Extraction Process

Natural Indigo Dyeing is a tedious process and it takes a long time to extract the dye from the leaves . This is a nice video from Go Indigo Jeans giving a detailed process of Natural Indigo extraction..

Denim photos from TIME Magazine

Time Magazine has brought out a photo essay on Denim- “From the sweatshops of Asia to the runways of New York, denim is bigger than ever”. Check it out for some great photographs on denim production around the world.

Which is the Heaviest denim? -21oz denim from Samurai.

Samurai is a famous Japanese brand and known for its innovative jeans.
One of their great jeans which came out last year was the 21oz denim…
21 oz???????
Yes, whole of 21 oz !

The S510XX21 model of Samurai ,with 21oz denim fabric made on Japanese wooden looms, has bettered their own previous record of 19oz denim.
This is a truly amazing denim and inspite of being so heavy, it is soft in feel because of very coarse yarns used and unique weaving methods applied. Samurai, rightly calls it the ‘Cloth of Super Excellence’. As most of their collection, this is also Selvedge denim with Red and Gold strands .

It took a lot of patience on the part of the highly skilled craftsmen to produce this fabric on the powerlooms.
The Japanese denim brands continue to amaze with their products . And I think the most important ingredient in their denim is the PASSION with which they work on their denims.Its NOT A COMMODITY for them..
And the PRICE – A COOL USD 330/–. Click here to buy.

Want to Join the Tommy Hilfiger ‘Hall of fame’?

Starting from today, customers in certain cities around the world can add their photographs to the Hilfiger ‘Hall of fame’. Some of the Hilfiger stores in London, Amsterdam, Cologne, Antwerp and Dublin will feature through window Touch Screens and camera which will enable the casual passers by to capture their images and submit to the Hilfiger Hall of fame. What it means is that the user submitted images will be shown on the Digital Screens inside the stores.
At the end of the campaign, the customers can go to the stores and get T-shirts printed with images they submitted.
I feel that it is a very intelligent marketing campaign.It has been finely crafted and needs to be praised.

On the one hand Lot of Media hype will be created around the campaign – drawing lot of customers to the stores. Secondly, the casual passers by have been given the freedom to play around without any pressure of buying any product . Thirdly, with the time and effort put in creating own images, many customers will return to the store to get their T-shirts (and pay!).

I don’t know how much Tommy Hilfiger has invested in this campaign, but it looks sure to make much more than it invested…