Denim Veteran David Tring Turns His Efforts Toward Education
After decades working in denim and fashion for retailers and labels like Wrangler, H&M, C&A and more, David Tring is charting a new course. Earlier this year, he retired from Lee Jeans and launched The Magic of Denim Consultancy. He is also partnering with universities to share his denim knowledge with students.
Another of David’s great longstanding loves is skateboarding, which he says has commonalities with the designing process. Both passions have been a steady part of his life since his youth.
David chatted with Carved in Blue about his early years in denim, educating the next generation and his next plans.
Carved in Blue: You started your denim career early. What first drew you in to the denim world?
David: I was 15 when I started working in the local denim and army surplus store on Saturdays in my hometown of Nottingham, England. At 17 I started full-time, and I was the store manager at 19. We sold Wrangler, Lee, Levi, Britannia, Falmer and Brutus jeans. The trends were changing really fast in the ‘70s, especially on fit and finish, so it was a really exciting time to be working in the store. I remember well that whenever we rearranged the denim shelves, our arms would turn blue.
The experience of working in retail and selling jeans really paid off in the ‘80s when I became a buyer for H&M and moved to live in Stockholm. We had a small men’s fashion team and we would hunt for vintage clothes and especially denim in the secondhand stores in New York, San Francisco and L.A. Roland Hjort was the designer and Rikard Hall was our assistant; it was their passion for vintage that really got me excited and obsessive about denim and jeans. By 1992, we had even set up a vintage corner in some of the H&M stores—we got a lot of freedom in those days.
Carved in Blue: Alongside denim, one of the other constants in your life since your teen years has been skateboarding. How has this sport influenced your work in denim?
David: I was skateboarding for about 18 months before we knew it was called skateboarding. We made our first decks from old roller-skates and just hammered them onto bits of wood—it must have been around 1974/75. By 1976 the equipment was getting better and it was becoming a huge craze. 1976 was the hottest summer we had known; it was the year I left school and it was the American bicentennial. We skated the whole summer and by the end of the year were getting pretty good.
Skateboarding taught me that anything is possible, and that optimism has never really left me. I see really strong connections between skateboarding and the design process. We all build on the ideas that have gone before and tweak or add to them to create new products. I love watching the new generation of skaters like the Brazilian Pedro Barros and Sky Brown, the British/Japanese skater who got silver at the Olympics and is inspiring so many young females with her positive attitude—optimism is infectious. Having skateboarding in the Olympics has changed a lot people’s minds about skateboarding. It’s a great activity—it gets young people outdoors trying new things and being creative.
Carved in Blue: Last year, you retired and made the move from brand-side development to consulting. What appealed about working in a consultant capacity, and what does your job look like today?
David: I loved almost every day of my 20-year career at Lee and Wrangler, and I have been in Asia since 2006. We did a lot of projects with universities and students around the region, and every time I got a chance to go and give a lecture or spend time with design and merchandising students, I would. I believe we all have a responsibility to support the next generation that’s coming through—it’s good for the industry and the brands—and we all need fresh new talent and ideas. I had always planned to retire early and spend more time with the universities. This year I am supporting the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) as a visiting fellow with a strong focus on all things related to denim. The HKDI is a vocational university and already has a good connection with industry, with companies like Advance Denim, Crystal, Levi and Lenzing. I want to really build on that and help make Hong Kong an educational hotspot for the denim industry.
One area that the Asian market is way behind the Western countries in on sustainability. It’s really not that well understood at a consumer level. HKDI and the Hong Kong Design Centre are putting a renewed focus on sustainability, and that will be a big part of my focus with the students. I am also running denim master classes for brands and retailers, which I am really enjoying. I had a laser focus on Lee and Wrangler for such a long time and it is refreshing for me right now to open up what I look at when preparing the master classes. I am not certain retirement is the right word for what I am doing, but whatever we call this I am really energized and enjoying it.
Carved in Blue: When did you first encounter TENCEL™? And what was your initial impression?
David: I cannot remember a collection where we did not use TENCEL™ fibers—it’s become one of the base fabrics in the industry. In the beginning, it was really exciting to have this super soft hand feel on denim and we used it a lot on female and lighter weight jeans. I would also add that the TENCEL™ team do so much for the denim community worldwide; it’s really impressive how you support young designers, students and the industry at large and all the work you do to promote and educate on sustainability.
Carved in Blue: As TENCEL™ turns 30, what has been your most memorable use or application of this material?
David: Today we can use TENCEL™ fibers in so many ways across both male and female jeans and tops. We recently used it within the Lee Xline collection, which is a quick response, direct to Gen Z consumer range in China. I especially love the women’s tops.
There’s a huge demand for lighter weight denim in Asia. When the temperatures get to over 30 degrees for a large part of the year, traditional jeans fabrics are no longer practical. Mixing TENCEL™ lyocell with Lee’s innovation solutions such Jade Fusion are really the next step in cooling.
Carved in Blue: You’re obviously very passionate about denim, but what would you like to see evolve about the industry?
David: All denim heads love the history of denim, but what they don’t always realize is that it’s really all about the innovations that were made to constantly improve the product. The denim industry struggles when it stops being innovative. I would like to see everyone focused not on the past but on creating products for the future archive—things that future generations will look back on and say they made a difference.
One of the biggest challenges the students coming through the universities will face in their careers is sustainability. We need to push harder to finding solutions for a truly circular economy; initiatives like the Jeans Redesign project by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation are a step in the right direction. Denim and jeans are in every wardrobe around the world, and if we want to stay relevant we must become more circular in our approach. I would also like to see all companies have science-based targets that are backed up with real actions to meet the UN Paris accord. There’s a quote by Thomas Friedman that I really love: “Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.”
Carved in Blue: What is next for you?
David: I want to keep developing and learning new things. Right now I am doing some courses on the circular economy, as I really feel this is a big part of the future. On a personal level I am looking forward to traveling to Europe in October, spending time with family in the UK and then on to Kingpins and catching up with everyone. In Hong Kong, we are still having a lot of Covid restrictions, so travel is not easy. We are all hoping for an easier next 12 months.
Carved in Blue: What does Carved in Blue mean to you?
David: I have a pair of Wrangler jeans that are 20 years old. I have worn them for most of my big presentations and moments in my career. The wear and tear on them really reflects my career—you could say all these memories and moments are all there, carved in blue. It’s also the name of one of my favorite podcasts.