Madewell Moves to Make Denim For Everyone

Madewell Moves to Make Denim For Everyone

Madewell has made great inroads into denim, leading with fashion favorites and wardrobe staples.

And lately, it’s been about making sure those beloved denim pieces can be embraced by people of any gender, shape or size, with a focus on inclusivity of fit for its denim community.

Carved in Blue spent some time hearing from Madewell head of denim design, Mary Pierson to get the lowdown on what’s new in denim.

Carved in Blue: Madewell has advanced it’s offering in denim, with maternity fits, plus sizes and curvy silhouettes—what’s the most important thing consumers want from their denim?  

Mary: Great quality, fit and value.

Madewell is the denim authority—we specialize in making the best denim and everything that goes with it. With community at the core of our brand, our customers come first, and we listen closely to their feedback to create a quality product and shopping experience that meets their needs while making our denim more accessible. Our goal is to offer jeans which make our customers feel and look good regardless of their style, size or shape. This year Madewell has made a lot of progress with the launches of our Men’s collection, extended sizing, curvy silhouettes and maternity fits.

Carved in Blue: Can you tell us about your Eco Collection? What’s the vision behind it and how is it resonating with consumers?

Mary: As part of Madewell’s first step toward more accessible and sustainable denim, we launched our Eco Jean Collection with our Fall line. For the collection, we sourced organic cotton denim from the Candiani mill in Italy where the cotton comes from GMO-free seeds, is not treated with toxic chemicals, and is sustainably dyed using shrimp shells. We then turned to the experts at the innovative Saitex factory for production to create vintage-inspired washes with the least amount of impact on the environment. They’re LEED-certified, recycle nearly all the water they use, prioritize renewable energy like solar, wash efficiently, air dry, and turn their manufacturing waste into bricks for affordable housing. The result is our Eco Jean that uses 65 percent fewer chemicals and 75 percent less water than conventional denim. We pioneered this process not only to introduce a more sustainable option to our customer but to set an example for other companies that there are ways to manufacturer in a more responsible way. This is just the beginning, there is so much more work to be done and we’re constantly looking for ways to evolve in a more sustainable way.

Carved in Blue: What does sustainability mean to Madewell?

Mary: Sustainability to us is being dedicated to evolving our practices to become more responsible. This means looking at the entire lifecycle of our product and assessing how we make less impact in each step. It’s a huge undertaking, and we have to work with every partner along the whole supply chain, as well as our consumer, to educate them on the best way to treat and dispose of our pieces after they have left our hands.

Carved in Blue: What’s next for Madewell in denim?

Mary: The possibilities are endless! We’re broadening our range of sizes and constantly evolving and tweaking our assortment so we can offer denim to everyone. We’re also always innovating by working with new technology in fiber, yarn spinning, finishing and garment construction. For new styles, our denim offerings evolve with our customer’s preference, so most of our newer silhouettes have a higher rise and different leg shapes beyond a skinny jean. Not to worry, we’ll always have our best sellers—our vintage-inspired authentic denim with comfort and performance.

Carved in Blue: A little about you now—what’s your first denim memory?

Mary: Oh my, I’m really going to date myself! I grew up when the “it” jeans to have were all about the back pocket stitching and logos. I have a vivid memory of my first pair of Guess jeans, they were heavy weight with light bleached stone wash and zippers at the bottom. I was 12 or 13 when I saved my babysitting money, took the subway to Bloomingdales and paid fifty bucks for them. I couldn’t believe I was spending so much on a pair of jeans—most jeans were $20 bucks at the time—but I had to have them. I loved them so much that when I was done wearing them, I brought them to college for a design project. My theme was “Paris” and I inserted black and white polka dotted upholstery fabric into the side seams and back pockets, created an Eiffel Tower of safety pins up one leg (I must have used hundreds) and wrote French sayings in black paint all over them. It was quite the project!


Carved in Blue: What’s your favorite city for denim inspiration?

Mary: I’ve been inspired by different cities throughout my career. Early on in my career I was inspired by Tokyo—the attitude that the Japanese put into styling, their detailed approach and quest to recreate the next life of a vintage piece. Now I’m more inspired to go off the beaten path to find the lost treasure. The team and I like to take road trips through the states and scour second hand stores to see what we find. We spent time in Santa Fe last year and found the best pieces.

Carved in Blue: What does Carved in Blue mean to you?

Mary: Carved in Blue is a great source for information, innovation and issues that are happening in this segment of the industry.