Denim Days to Bring Indigo Lovers Back Together in Amsterdam
Denim is a community, but for the past few years, there have been scant opportunities for the industry to come together in person. In 2022, Denim Days is looking toward a return to live events, gathering bluebloods in Amsterdam.
Started in 2014, Denim Days is a platform for creators, consumers, brands and buyers to unite over a shared love of denim for talks, workshops and shopping. With TENCEL™ Denim as one of the event partners, a key focuses is sustainability, whether that means low-impact production, repair, upcycling or recycling.
Denim Days coordinator Joanne Schouten chatted with Carved in Blue about the event’s plans for 2022, why The Netherlands has become a denim hotspot, and some of the brands that should be on denim heads’ radar.
Carved in Blue: As Denim Days plans to hopefully return in person this year, what can attendees expect to see at the 2022 event?
Joanne: We started 2022 in a positive mood, and we are planning a “Denim Days Festival – The Market Edition” on April 22 and 23. After skipping the event for two years, we want to be back with a live event as soon as we can, so we are not waiting for October as usual. As the last live event in October 2019 was a great success, and because we loved it, we will return to De Hallen and Denim City. Attendees can expect a vibrant denim market, the possibility to attend workshops or customize denim products, exhibitions and, of course, inspiring Denim Talks. We will facilitate a place for all denim lovers to get together, to catch up with one another while enjoying a drink.
Carved in Blue: What are you personally most looking forward to about going back to a physical format?
Joanne: There’s so much to look forward to. As everybody does, I cannot wait to see so many (denim) friends in real life again, and to meet the people I only communicated with on email or Zoom as we met during the pandemic. But I also literally dream about the bliss of watching other people meeting each other at Denim Days for the first time in two years. I am expecting more big blue hugs at the event than ever, and the thought of it puts a big smile on my face.
Next to the hugs, I look forward to learning about new technologies, innovations and new perspectives on the future of the denim industry. As always, our Towards a Brighter Blue Mission will be part of the event, so we will do our best to spotlight important initiatives towards a more responsible denim industry.
Carved in Blue: How would you describe the denim industry’s evolution over the last two years? How has the pandemic shaped this category within fashion?
Joanne: The pandemic has left quite an imprint; it has been a hard two years for the industry. But as a positive spirit, I always do my best to see the sparks in the dark, and I have seen many. As a reaction to the challenging circumstances, I saw so much resilience and creativity, inventiveness and movement, many on a personal level, though. In the bigger picture, it seems to me that Covid-19 has accelerated some of the trends that we were seeing in the industry before the pandemic: sustainability, digitalization and athleisure, to name a few.
The denim industry has been at the forefront of the ongoing sustainability trend, and I think this will continue for a long time. Still, a massive progress needs to be made in order to achieve the Paris Agreement targets. Because of the pandemic, consumer awareness about this topic has grown, especially in the first months. I hope the awareness sticks to everyone’s minds, while the world is opening up again.
Digitalization has gained a lot of momentum during the pandemic. As it has been our only tool of communication the past two years, we are sick of it now, but I expect the digital aspect is here to stay. If we use it well and consciously, digitalization and innovation will help us minimize our footprint.
Athleisure thrived by the pandemic. Being at home so much and behind our screens, we learned that clothes that feel good, fit well and are well made are very comfortable. This could be the new luxury, and stretch denim fits in.
To be honest, I expect people to fall back to old consumer habits, but I truly hope—and I want to quote one of my fashion heroes Dame Vivienne Westwood here—that we all will “Buy Less, Choose Well, Make it Last.”
Carved in Blue: What are some of the most exciting denim makers and innovations you have spotted lately? What makes them stand out from the crowd?
Joanne: Lately, I see many genderless brands (not only denim) popping up, and I think it is a very interesting and welcome development in a world that needs to become more inclusive in every way. My personal style is not really feminine, so that makes it probably more attractive to me. My favorite disruptive denim brand dismissing gender and generation is PeppinoPeppino.
Next to that, I am super interested in redesign concepts for a long time already. There is so much production waste and overstock in the fashion industry, and creating new garments out of old is the perfect way of taking responsibility. I love E.L.V. Denim because of their dedication and fashion vibe, and Rekrow because of their commitment to craft and heritage.
And everyone should check out Decode by Danielle Elsener, who specializes in zero-waste design. Danielle has been part of one of the Transformers ED events last year, with a very inspiring talk about her way to fix the fashion industry’s biggest problem. These brands give me a lot of hope for the future of denim and fashion.
Carved in Blue: How has Denim Days grown since it started in 2014? What impact has this event had on Amsterdam’s denim community and industry?
Joanne: Denim Days Festival has been a unique event from the beginning, and the hardcore denim community has been able to find its way to this denim festival from the beginning. When Denim Days started in 2014 in Amsterdam, Kingpins Show settled down in the city, and both Jeanschool and Denim City opened their doors. Because of all this happening over a short time period, Amsterdam quickly developed as a denim hotspot—not only due to Denim Days, not even only because of all the other initiatives, although they play a role in this. I am convinced that also Dutch mentality and denim attract one another as they have a lot in common: the honest, what you see is what you get, sturdy, no-nonsenseness. Many denim brands and industry showrooms found their way to Amsterdam, so the industry is doing very well.
Over the past years, it has been very interesting to see the attention for Denim Days spread more and more from a business-related target group to a bigger range of consumers and denim lovers. We also learned a lot about how to communicate to consumers worldwide, when we organized New York Denim Days and Nashville Denim Days together with Kingpins. We have seen our followers on social media (@denimdaysfestival) become a growing, global and very loyal community. That’s why we launched the new digital Denim Days platform last October, where we invite the community to stay in touch in between the live events.
After five great events in the Westergasfabriek, we brought the Denim Days Festival in 2019 (our last live event) to De Hallen and Denim City. This felt like coming home—the right place for our event. This coming April, we are restarting with The Market Edition. Next, we hope and expect to keep on developing and improving Denim Days Festival there the coming years.
Carved in Blue: Aside from the event, what other plans do you have in the works for 2022?
Joanne: After two years of staying at home and working almost only behind my computer, I promised myself an adventurous 2022, and to add more color to my life.
I am looking forward to many live denim events, both for Denim Days in Amsterdam and for Kingpins Show globally. Next to that, I want to keep on learning about denim in general, about innovations and true responsible developments in our industry. I am very grateful to work for Kingpins Show and the Transformers Foundation, as I get the chance to learn a lot and meet many interesting people and initiatives.
On a personal level, my adventures in 2022 will be about learning, developing, putting into practice what I learn and stepping out of my comfort zone now and then. As you can see, my work and my personal life are very much intertwined.