Denim City Serves as Amsterdam’s Hub for all Things Denim
When Amsterdam’s denim lovers unite, it’s at Denim City—the so dubbed “headquarters” of the city’s denim ecosystem.
The place is one where creators, lovers and purveyors of denim congregate to collaborate on craftsmanship and innovation in the industry that inspires them. Some of the corporate sponsors behind Denim City include: Advance Denim, Arvind, Berto, Bossa, C&A, Candiani, G Star, Henry I Siegel, Hilfiger Jeans, Jeanologia, Levis, and Pepe Jeans.
As its name would suggest, Denim City is more than just one thing. It plays host to the Jean School, which offers a three-year Denim Developer course, and a Workshop where designers or brands or students can take courses led by resident denim craftspeople. There’s also a Store at Denim City, serving up custom denim designs, and then there’s the beloved Blue Lab laundry.
Carved in Blue spent some time with Denim City director Harm Magis, who’s been on the job for just more than a year, to find out what’s on offer at Amsterdam’s denim epicenter, and what’s next.
CIB: What’s your greatest challenge as director of Denim City?
Harm: To connect all different parties of the industry to support our goals and motto: Towards a brighter blue!
CIB: So your Blue Lab must be helping in the journey towards a brighter blue—can you tell us about it?
Harm: Blue Lab is an open source laundry facility in which we teach the students about traditional laundry techniques and also about the latest state of the art techniques with laser and ozone.
CIB: Continuing in that effort to educate about the craft, Denim City recently launched a new website with upgraded features. What’s the story there?
Harm: We have created a website which will allow us to communicate with all different levels of the industry and keep everybody updated on our activities from Jean School to Store, to Blue Lab, Academy and our Academy for professionals in the industry.
CIB: What can we expect to find in the Denim City Store?
Harm: In Denim City Store we created our ultimate jeans store with a true focus on a variety of 20 different brands. Together with our workshop, Blue Lab and our Archive, it forms the ultimate denim experience in Amsterdam.
CIB: The Store features a denim chair made with TENCEL® branded lyocell fibers in a fabric from Berto. How does that fit into the shop?
Harm: “The Chair”, as we call it, functions as a center piece in our Store. It serves as a resting point for visitors of the Store and for partners of people in the fitting rooms.
If we would charge 25 cents for each photo taken in The Chair, we could all have a great dinner together!
CIB: We’d love to hear a little about you. What’s your favorite denim brand?
Harm: Denim City Jeans, which we make in Amsterdam, of course.
CIB: Kingpins and Denim Days both took place in Amsterdam recently. What’d you think of the shows?
Harm: Great to see these events grow season after season and everybody enjoying being in Amsterdam.
CIB: That said, if brands are coming to Amsterdam to check out Denim City, where should they eat?
Harm: Hotel de Goudfazant. Although the name suggests it’s a hotel, it is not. Great food, great people, great entourage.
CIB: So what’s ahead for Denim City?
Harm: We want Denim City to become the clubhouse for the industry in which new developments are created, the industry meets, gets educated and allows us to communicate with consumers. So basically grow our Academy, Jean School, Workshop, Archive, Blue Lab and Store.
CIB: Finally, what does Carved in Blue mean to you?
Harm: For me it means the road to sustainable solutions within the denim industry and beyond.