Blue Cast: Viktor Fredbäck and Emilio Di Stefano Discuss Their ‘Denim Hunter’ Doc
Blue Cast is a podcast series from the TENCEL™ Denim team. Each episode features a conversation with a special guest from within the industry or the fringes of the denim community. The following is a recap of episode 501.
Across the United States, it’s estimated that there are half a million abandoned mining sites. For denim collectors seeking the earliest pieces, these sites offer a chance to unearth jeans left by workers more than a century ago.
The newly released documentary “Denim Hunter” follows this quest for antique jeans through the perspective of Viktor Fredbäck. Based in Sweden, he has been amassing a collection of denim, starting about 20 years ago when he was in college with 1960s and ‘70s pieces. The film, directed by Emilio Di Stefano, captures Viktor’s trip to the United States to search for jeans from the 1880s, the one decade missing in his century-long collection.
During the recent U.K. premiere screening of “Denim Hunter,” Viktor and Emilio sat down with Endrime’s Mohsin Sajid for a Q&A session. They chatted about the making of the film, denim history and the enduring appeal of jeans. This conversation was recorded for our Blue Cast podcast.
Emilio first came across Viktor in the newspaper in 2017, after news broke that he won an award for his collection. He quickly contacted Viktor and the two met in person. That same year, they went on a research trip to the U.S.
Viktor has also met other collectors along the way. An eBay purchase led him to Michael Harris, a U.S.-based denim “archaeologist,” who invited Viktor to come out to see him and hunt for denim. After being introduced to this side of historical denim hunting, Viktor now takes his entire vacation time to fly abroad and dig.
“This is luxury,” said Viktor. “Not many people could get this opportunity to look for this super, super old stuff.”
His hobby has naturally led to an understanding of denim history, partly out of necessity. For instance, most miners wore two pairs of pants, and work pants were provided to workers by the mining company. “To find these jeans, you need to know so much about mining and how everything works around it,” Viktor explained.
Emilio believes part of the fascination with jean history comes from denim’s ubiquity. He noted that globally, about half of people are wearing jeans at any given time. “I don’t think there’s any other item or garment that goes from poor to rich,” he said.
For the documentary, Emilio filmed roughly 400 hours of footage. Most of Emilio’s filmography is “dark,” so this was a departure, and it gave him a chance to do things he wouldn’t have otherwise. “It was really fun doing it, and I think that’s why it took some time as well, because we enjoyed doing it,” he said. “We didn’t really want it to stop.”
Listen to the discussion, including Viktor sharing some highlights from his collection, here.