Blue Lenz Awards: Salli Deighton on Her Collaboration with NDL
Carved in Blue recently hosted our second annual Blue Lenz Video Awards. Out of the many videos posted to our Blue Lenz YouTube channel over the year, we chose the top films in each of six categories, and the winners were announced at a ceremony on Aug. 31. Thank you to everyone who entered, our judges and our host, Bluezone at Munich Fabric Start.
Naveena Denim Ltd. and Salli Deighton were awarded in the Honorable Mention category for their video on Considered from Fibre to Finish. This partnership marked Salli’s first collaboration with a mill, as she lent her product development expertise to create a collection of denim in two categories: performance textiles and eco-friendly jeans.
Salli chatted with Carved in Blue about working with NDL and others on the project, and why denim development must consider the entire process—including laundry.
Carved in Blue: What was the concept or inspiration behind your winning film?
Salli: Firstly, thanks so much for the award. The entire team is thrilled, and this was one big collaboration. Our concept was to share our journey creating this capsule collection, which was Considered from Fibre to Finish. We wanted to educate others and explain the choices we made in the fabric development from fiber to finish and how these choices performed in a sustainable laundry. We designed the video to be informative in a lighthearted way with our cute character designed by Matt Keeling, and the amazing team at Endrime helped us pull the video together in a couple of days. The whole team worked incredibly hard to ensure no detail was overlooked on this project.
Carved in Blue: Why did you feel it was important to explore this topic?
Salli: As a product developer, it’s so important to work with the right denim which is fit for the laundry process. If the fabric isn’t dyed and finished correctly it will cost more to finish and waste time and energy. These fabrics were engineered to deliver efficiency in laundry through smart dyeing methods, and we also tackled some challenge the industry faces with polyester by using alternative fibers such as TENCEL™ and hemp. We also wanted to address the biodegradability of fabrics and reduce the impact on landfill, so all fibers were considered where possible without compromising fabric performance.
Carved in Blue: Could you describe the process behind creating this content?
Salli: Naveena are known for their innovation and their passion for producing sustainable denim, so this was an opportunity for me to have a real deep dive with fabric experts. We reviewed many fabrics and then created a small collection with new fibers, better dyeing, laundry friendly finishing and then we collaborated with Hub 1922 and Everest in Italy to test the fabric performance in laundry. We photographed and filmed our journey working with @giorgio_figini in Italy and @tristanfewings in the U.K. who provided the great product shots for the catalog and video. The Naveena team filmed some of the processes in the mill so we could tell the story from fiber to finish.
Carved in Blue: What was the most challenging part of producing this video?
Salli: We produced this video during Covid, which proved challenging for everyone. I was unable to visit the mill and the team were unable to travel to the laundries with me. All the collaborator interviews had to be made on Zoom, which @endrime coordinated brilliantly! It was truly frustrating not being able to work together in person. Every process took longer due to these restrictions, and we had to pull the video together in a short period of time. Everyone did such an awesome job!
Carved in Blue: What stands out as a memorable moment from behind-the-scenes?
Salli: The meetings with Zeeshan and the NDL development team were memorable as I learned so much. The passion and dedication were off the chart as I pushed so hard to achieve the ultimate denim. Setting the jeans up for photography was also memorable! @denim_research hosted the shoot in his studio and I’ve never pinched and tweaked in such detail to create the prefect image! Driving back at 2 a.m. in thick fog after a late finish creating the video content at Endrime was also a bit challenging! It was real British “pea soup!”
Carved in Blue: Why is video such a powerful medium for denim storytelling?
Salli: Seeing all the detail and the journey of the denim development, supported with real facts told in a 2-3 minute video is a great way to convey our message to our audience. The video reflects our passion for this project, and we hope this came across in the footage. The video is on call on Blue Lenz, so people who missed the launch can review the collection at any time. All these Blue Lenz videos are building a historical record of the evolution of denim, and that’s something to be super proud of. We all know how hard our industry has worked to drive clean growth and responsible change, and this video is an important part of this story.