Hi guys!
This video is about Amsterdam and I’m guessing when you think of this city
there are certain words that probably come to mind:
bicycles, bridges, canals, red lights, coffee shops…denim?
No?
Me neither.
I never associated Amsterdam with jeans
but I seem to have stumbled across the epicentre of the denim universe.
If jeans has a headquarters then Amsterdam is it
and I found a place called Denim City - aptly named -
in De Hallen which is a converted tram depot in the neighbourhood of Oud West
which I actually just made a whole video about so I will link that up here if you want to learn more about it.
I was just wandering through this building and I saw this huge space
with people bent over rows of sewing machines
and a gigantic wall filled with rolls of denim fabric
and I wandered in and this lovely man named Joos came up to us and gave us a tour.
He introduced himself and showed us the whole facility and I’m so glad that he did because,
honestly, if not I might not have appreciated all that they do there
and just thought it was a place where you could go and get yourself a pair of custom jeans.
And while it is that, it is so much more.
Walking around there I even got to meet one of the founders
and Denim City was started by people who were really involved in running Amsterdam Fashion Week
and I guess they eventually decided that Amsterdam was just not a global fashion city
but it was a jeans city.
Hence the name Denim City.
Denim City was started by a foundation called House of Denim and it’s a not-for-profit
and they are dedicated to transforming the entire denim industry for the future.
That means making jeans more sustainable, more innovative,
and more collaborative around the world.
Their mission statement - and I love this - is ‘Towards A Brighter Blue.’
Perfect.
And through education and collaboration around the world
they are trying to reduce the environmental impact of making jeans.
When you travel, you see people wearing jeans all around the world
and they want to make that more sustainable for everyone.
Things like making jeans out of recycled plastic bottles.
They have also have a Jeans School and it’s the only one of its kind anywhere in the world.
You can go and take a three year program where they develop young talent
and it’s the only independent education facility totally dedicated to denim.
They also have something called an Indigo Archive and I love the names they’ve given these.
And the idea is that in every industry there are certain collections or pieces that are really inspiring
for research or education and so they are building an archive for denim.
And as a tribute to Levi Strauss, who you might call the godfather of denim and his 501 jeans,
they are currently building the archive to eventually have 501 denim garments.
Another part of Denim City is the Blue Lab which is entirely dedicated to laundry.
Laundry is all of the finishing and the treatment processes that make jeans look and feel a certain way
and nowadays it’s extremely high tech
and they are really innovating the whole industry with craftsmanship and technology.
We got to see the washing machines which are really important to get that particular wash
and the exact feeling that you love.
And we got to see stone washing which is literally washed with stones.
Did you know that?
I didn’t know that.
I thought it was just a term.
It was so cool to see.
One of the coolest things we saw touring the facility was a loom
and I know that someone makes jeans somehow
but to see them on a loom with all of those individual pieces of thread spread out
and then coming together to make one uniform garment really blew my mind.
With all of this going on in the background, they are also a store front.
So you can go there and buy yourself a custom pair of jeans.
So if you’ve ever agonized in a dressing room that the jeans just are not fitting quite right
this is the place to go for custom jeans.
Visiting Denim City was one of those happy accidents
that you just stumble across sometimes when you’re travelling
and I feel really lucky that I got to tour the whole facility
and learn more about the whole denim industry.
I hope that you guys enjoyed it too and jeans are extremely personal.
So leave a comment down below - tell me if you like to wear denim
and what specific kind of jeans you like.
I wear all kinds of denim but, at the moment, I’m favouring skinny with a slight stretch
and a high waist.
So tell me what kind of jeans you like to wear.
If you like this video then give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already
for more travel videos and I’ll see you in my next one.
Bye!