All in the Family with the Cardonas
Circularity, innovation and a love for all things denim come together for siblings Amor and Fernando Cardona. This sister and brother cut their teeth as laundry technicians at Jeanologia some 19 years ago, today find themselves at the helm of the company’s eco-conscious denim initiatives. Amor is in charge of “The School,” Jeanologia’s education program that aims to bring emerging laser designers to the market, while Fernando manages the Brain Box Team, a company effort that leverages Jeanologia’s technology to help the garment finishing sector elevate sustainability and efficiency.
Carved in Blue caught up with the Cardona siblings to discuss their first impressions of the denim business, what it’s like to work as a family, and the importance of offering consumers more circular fashion options right now.
Carved in Blue: What was your very first impression of the denim business?
Fernando: I remember that I couldn’t believe all the production steps that are needed to get a jean, starting with the cotton growing up to having the jean in the shop. In that moment I thought that jeans were too cheap!
Carved in Blue: Did you always want to go into the denim business?
Amor: When I started working in Jeanologia, I did not know anything about denim. I just wanted to know where my little brother was working, why he arrived home full of blue colored stains and talking about rare things as fibrillation, warp, weft… LOL. I was working in another field, and when my brother asked me to go to Jeanologia to make an interview, it just took me 10 minutes to fall in love, and the following day, I was in!
Fernando: I always loved jeans, since I was a child and teenager. At that time, to me they were only dark, medium or light color, as I didn’t know anything about processes. I am Chemical engineer, and I never thought I would end up in this industry during my University studies.
Carved in Blue: What is it like working with a sibling in the same company?
Amor: Do you want the truth or I should lie a bit? LOL. It is kind of comfortable for me. We have this trust on each other, that just with one look, we know what the other is thinking.
Fernando: I think we both have been very professional in this sense. Although we have had our small brother-sister fights sometimes, rather than colleague’s discussions. But mostly, we have enjoyed, laughed and learnt together.
Carved in Blue: When did you realize you are a blueblood?
Amor: Almost immediately. It is a world that conquered me since the very beginning.
Fernando: I fell in love with this Industry really soon. Many of my passions were merged in my daily job: science, creativity, technology, design…
Carved in Blue: What’s the best advice your brother/sister ever gave you?
Amor: With no doubt, the best advice Fernando ever gave to me was to enjoy, to have passion. To work in this industry you need to have passion, otherwise you will get crazy. And it is something both of us have and also we try to contagion this passion to all the new Jeanologist.
Fernando: Amor is an example to me on effort and devotion. She is my guide in so many occasions: “slow down,” “pay more attention here.”
Carved in Blue: What do you think the future looks like for the denim industry?
Amor: I really think that we are living a great revolution in the denim industry. With all the technological innovation, the denim industry is changing, and we are going to get more sustainable products. The look is the look, but what is changing is the way to produce the garments.
Fernando: We are living a real change in this industry’s history. We still have a lot to do to reach a more ethical and sustainable Industry, but opportunities are just huge. I see more than ever a real collaboration in the full production chain, from the brands to the yarn manufacturers, passing by fabric, garment, chemicals and finishers. New generations are not going to have the choice, as to them, sustainable production will be a fact. We must be capable to do this.
Carved in Blue: What does Carved in Blue mean to you?
Amor: After more than 20 years working together, to us it is part of our lives. Passion for denim and for sustainability.