Celebrating 5 Years of Carved in Blue
As Carved in Blue turns five, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the journey that led to the creation of this platform. This blog may be celebrating a single-digit anniversary, but it took decades for TENCEL™ to carve out its current place in the denim world.
It is remarkable to note that TENCEL™ Lyocell started in the denim industry in 1992. It has been a rollercoaster ride over the past 29 years for this fiber as it has tried to grow up in the world, work with the industry, gain attention and weave a way into the hearts and minds of consumers.
In 2010, after several years of flat-out rejection by denim brands, who said TENCEL™ was a “missy fiber” that was too floppy, and ended discussions with, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” we were determined to do more and be more. We started to see some success with Levi’s Engineer Jean and “premium” L.A. denim market, starting with a brand called Rich and Skinny, and we were hearing from Adriano Goldschmied and others that there needed to be a change in the denim industry to clean up its act. Brands were starting to question the origin of raw materials and look at water, land and chemical impacts. We also saw innovation in laundry techniques, which only enhanced TENCEL™ Denim.
The TENCEL™ Denim team came together after a corporate reorganization in 2015, and we started to plot a path forward. What did we really need to succeed? If only we could highlight our small successes that continued to grow each season. If only we had a place to chronicle these stories to inspire others and raise awareness. We might be small in the scheme of all fibers, but we have a reason for being in the denim industry. That’s how the Carved in Blue blog was born five years ago.
To build this blog, we got together the best and brightest creative minds in the industry, tossed around ideas and plotted out what we thought was the plan. We were told there would never be enough stories for only the denim industry and why would people want to read only about TENCEL™ Denim. Knowing the character of the denim industry, we believed otherwise. And actually, it is not just about TENCEL™ Denim, but the rich heritage, art and culture that denim represents. We respect this fact and show how we are part of the community too.
Never at a lack for stories, we have shared more than 720 tales of denim people, places, technology and innovations. We started posting stories in March 2016 based on interviews with Adriano Goldschmied, Dominic Poon of Twin Dragon, Hasan Javed from Artistic Garment Industries, Jeanologia, Alberto Candiani, Ebru Ozdayin, Enrico Forin, Jose Royo from Tejidos Royo, and Textil Santanderina for the launch at Kingpins Amsterdam in April 2016.
It was a slow and steady start to get the word out and support from the social channels of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to connect the network of followers. Each year, it grew steadily, and then we reached the pandemic when we only had digital communication platforms at our disposal. This increased sessions tremendously, with our Headspace video series and Denim Think Tank webinars. We were even awarded Content Marketing Associations’ “Best Content Specific Blog” in 2020.
There have been so many incredible stories over the past five years, but my favorite series is definitely “All in the Family”—and yes, the name is a take on the 1970s American sitcom with Archie Bunker. After working in other segments of the apparel industry, it always struck me that the denim industry is unique to have this rich family history from generation to generation and even relatives within one generation working together. We have had 25 incredible All in the Family stories—from the Olahs, Candianis, Russos and Tonellos, to the Ahmeds, Taubenfigels, Gnuttis, Donadis, and more. They are like cooks in the kitchen who pass down family recipes or share a common bond as true blue-bloods.
Some of your favorite stories over the past five years have been about the Modern Definition of Denim, which has many chapters covering concepts from future thinking to sustainability. You also liked to read the inside scoop about brands like Guess, Faustine, Boyish and Kings of Indigo, as well as mill innovation from Orta, Bossa, Naveena and Arvind.
We are optimistic about the future and the new chapters that will unfold. We have a lot to tackle together in order to evolve the denim industry. It is with sincere gratitude that we thank you for your support, and cheers to the next five years!
– Tricia Carey & Michael Kininmonth
