Alberto Candiani on Staying Crazy Competitive with Efficient Sustainability
To call Alberto Candiani a blueblood would be a bit of a cliché…but that doesn’t mean it’s not completely true.
As the fourth generation of his family’s denim mill, Candiani might have a better grasp on denim’s heritage than perhaps any other denimhead alive. It would be easy for a person in his position to become complacent, but it’s the evolution of denim that really keeps him going.
In this last segment of Carved in Blue’s Modern Definition of Denim series, Candiani talks in-depth about how the beloved blue fabric has grown from old-school workwear into something truly more special.
Carved in Blue: What do you enjoy the most about the denim community?
Alberto: What I enjoy the most are people evolving their minds. There’s very little turnover, and this is what I do not enjoy because less, less and less I see young talents being truly involved in the denim community. But, at the same time, I see the old guys evolving their mindset, and eventually they will influence the youngest guys to make them more excited about denim—because we do need excitement.
Carved in Blue: If you were to pick one buzzword of the denim industry right now, what would it be?
Alberto: Sustainability. It’s almost disgusting. The way it’s been abused in a way. Of course, there’s the real one, the true one, the tangible one. And, of course, there’s a lot of greenwashing, which we are trying to fight.
Carved in Blue: What is the modern definition of denim?
Alberto: To me, the modern definition of denim is something that looks like traditional denim but has evolved and has changed its contents, starting with the ingredients and the materials.
We know the understanding of denim is always old-school traditional workwear and authentic, but at Candiani we made the difference when denim was finally meant to be more feminine, and so less rustic, less authentic, less workwear. Those were the ’90s, and we created the first good stretch denim. And we were the ones going against the purists—and still I’m a purist myself. I still love my 17-ounce-rated stuff, but the market is not about that. Evolution and progress are not about the stereotype. So, in the ’90s we managed to influence the industry by creating good-performing and good-looking stretch fabrics.
I think in the 2000s we did actually improve that, and we brought more ingredients to the table. Lately we are reinventing denim completely from the fibers to the dyes and the finishings—even new weaving techniques. So, again, today we are looking at a new generation of denim, which is looking like authentic, with or without stretch, but the contents are very much different.
Cotton is still very much relevant. I’m not necessarily against cotton. It depends what cotton you source and where you source it. But together with cotton you can finally play with other fibers, and cellulosics are certainly the most interesting. Lenzing’s fibers are probably the best to work with and the best complementary solution to cotton.
Dyes changed completely. Of course, we still dye with indigo, but we dye differently. Today we can dye without caustic, and we can dye without sulfites. Today we can dye under nitrogen and save a lot of water and use way less chemicals. We can finalize the dye with natural polymers and biodegradable materials, and we can finish the fabrics with waterless treatments.
The end result is pretty much a yard of denim that looks like the one we used to make 50 years ago, but it’s all different. It was made differently, with different ingredients, with different materials, with better performance. I always say modern denim is better denim, and to be better has to be nicer and cleaner.
Carved in Blue: What was the reasoning behind evolution in today’s modern definition?
Alberto: I can tell you what the evolution was for us at Candiani. It was efficiency. We are located in a nature reserve, and 45 years ago when they came up with this nature reserve, they came to us and they said, ‘Well look, Mr. Candiani, you make denim. So you use a lot of water and use a lot of chemicals. And now this is the nature reserve. So you can’t do “this or that.” You can’t use these chemicals any more. Your water has to be clean when you discharge it.’
We faced a very interesting challenge that somehow has forced us to become sustainable through efficiency, because if you want to do stay competitive, you necessarily have to invest in technology and smart solutions to improve your efficiency. Otherwise, long term, you lose competitivity, and our businesses is crazy competitive.
So, I think efficiency, which most of the time equals sustainability, was one of the reasons why we created a modern denim in terms of content ingredients, and the technology we adopted to create this denim has changed a lot. So, modernity is not just in aesthetics; modernity is in the making of [denim].
Carved in Blue: What is the most recent progress in the industry that has made you proud?
Alberto: What makes me proud, generally speaking, is the new consciousness around denim. And now I’m not talking about myself; I’m talking about the market. I have the impression that even if not everybody has committed to the big sustainable change, I have the impression that everybody’s a bit more conscious about this. And this is already something, if I have to look at my own personal satisfaction, what I’m proud of.
There’s a few things, but if I really have to pick one: Look, Candiani is now 81 years old. And so I am truly proud of my textile and family heritage, but at the same time as Candiani, we are led by innovation—by the future. So, in a way, I’m truly proud of balancing the past and the future—so the heritage and innovation—and I think that’s why we’re still successful.