Amsterdam prepares Denim City Headquarters

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
May 1, 2014

Amsterdam is claiming the title European capital of denim. The concentration of jeans brands in the Dutch capital is indeed impressive. Key industry players like G-star and Tommy Hilfiger Europe are headquartered there. The city has also attracted many talents. Scotch & Soda, Denham, Kings of Indigo or Kuyichi began their global expansion in Holland. What’s more, the boutique denim trade show Kingpins will be putting on its first European edition this week.

While there are many passionate about blue cotton twill as well as the Venice of the North, it was the House of Denim Foundation that pushed at the beginning of the decade to organize a show focused on current practices in the denim industry today, and ideas for a better denim industry of tomorrow.

Its members aim to connect professionals while raising awareness about environmental issues. Since 2012, House of Denim itself has organized a curriculum for denim careers with its Jean School at the community college, ROCvA.

This October, House of Denim will take a new step in opening Denim City Headquarters - a project that it will introduce during Denim Days, which will take place this coming week in the Dutch capital.

A central goal of the project is to educate the denim industry about cleaner production methods that conserve water, while attracting industry players as well as denim brands themselves.

House of Denim has garnered the support of the city of Amsterdam, which has financed the renovation of the building, ROCvA, and recycling centers and washing facilities... The association, however, will be responsible for attracting new members and use crowdfunding in order to sustain the arrangement.

Workshop and laboratoires
On the ground, members will be able to take advantage of resources offered at the center. 125 square meters of the headquarters will be set aside for archives provided by House of denim and partners. These resources will become available to members of the Workshop.

A 275 meter square space will be equipped with sewing machines, serving both as a production workshop for upcylcing companies as well as a laboratory for business incubators.

Space will also be used as a Jean School classroom. Up until now only available to Dutch students, the program will welcome 25 international students in 2015.

300 square meters will be rented out as office space for denim companies or experts who want a pied-à-terre in Amsterdam - in line with House of Denim’s goal of connecting the industry’s professionals.

It will include a center of expertise center to foster the exchange of innovative design ideas that incorporate sustainable development in the denim industry. Finally, Blue Lab will be dedicated to research on washing, with industrial partners such as Jeanologie and Garmon, headed by the German-Turkish entrepreneur, Fuat Gozacan’s, FG Group.

House of Denim is establishing a new project called Red Light Denim that will kick off alongside Denim Days during the first week of May. Over the course of the week, jeans will be collected in conjunction with the Dutch clothing recycling company KICI. The denim will then be broken down, mixed with virgin cotton to create new thread, finally to be made into brand new denim.