Miguel Sanchez Wants Better Wearing through Chemistry
Chemistry gets a bad rap, if you ask Miguel Sanchez.
While the Gaviland founder understands why it’s a common misconception that chemicals are harmful for our world, it’s really their power that unlocks denim’s true potential.
In Carved in Blue’s Modern Definition of Denim series, Miguel discusses the exciting exploration being undertaken by today’s denimheads and what it means for denim’s shifting definition.
Carved in Blue: What do you enjoy the most about the denim community?
Miguel: It’s a kind of family. Denim is, of course, global. It’s probably the only truly global fashion. It’s everywhere…Everybody’s wearing denim. But the people around the denim world, the people producing denim, developing denim, is a really, really small community compared to the volume of garments that are produced every year, which is around 4 billion articles a year
So, for me, this spirit of meeting people who are very friendly and remember you is very good. It’s kind of injecting energy in your body. For me, it’s the feeling of being in the right place with the right people.
Carved in Blue: If you were to pick one buzzword, one trendy word of the denim industry right now, what would it be?
Miguel: Exploring. We are entering into unknown territory now in denim. We have abandoned what was a kind of comfort zone. So, basically, you would see commercial cotton, and more or less know what we were doing, and washing the garments down in one way or the other. But now we are entering into unknown territory by using recycled materials and new fibers, even some engineered types of products—for example, bioplastics and things like that. We’re innovating, using the ingredients that we know that work, but at the same time using new ingredients that we think are going to add a special taste to denim. But it’s still an experiment.
But you must try every idea you have. If we don’t do it, we will never know. So, integrating certain materials processes, styles, patterns, is exploring a new land. It’s very good because it’s pioneering…We are talking about an article that was for adventurers, and people exploring, and rebels and mavericks. So, I think this is one of the good things with denim today, that we are taking everything that can be interesting to be added to the denim recipe, and producing something new, something different.
Not all the styles that are created will survive. The market is what it is…But that doesn’t have to stop you from thinking new things all the time. Anything that you figured out on denim is possible, can be possible. The only thing is to make it feasible. So, if you tell me about denim that has to be glowing in the dark, for example. There’s a way to say it’s possible; we need to find out a way to make it physical. The good thing about denim is that there are no limits.
Carved in Blue: What is the modern definition of denim?
Miguel: Well, for me, denim started as a one single article for what was 150 years ago. It has been evolving over the years, and now I think the word that I will use to define denim is an ecosystem.
Different animals live in the same area. They share the same region, and they all live well together. So, there is a space for more denim styles. Some of the denim styles fade down. They disappear from the market, and some are coming. So, in that respect, it’s a kind of living ecosystem like the jungle or the bush, where different animals live together in peace. But every animal has their own business. This is part of learning history—about starting and expanding on three dimensions.
Carved in Blue: You must have seen a lot of changes, but what is the most recent progress in the industry that has made you proud?
Miguel: I would mention two: the inclusion of recycling—the possibility of reusing and recycling something that otherwise would end in nowhere knows. And the other thing is the technologies to save resources, especially water.
I think there are two things here that, fortunately, are coming up at the same time. It will allow us to keep producing denim because the market has to grow with the people without really having a higher impact on the planet. We can do more, with the same or even less. For me, this is very important because the future of denim is based on that—and on how much can you save and still keeping the spirit and the special thing that denim has.
Carved in Blue: If you had the power to cross off one thing in the industry, what would it be?
Miguel: One thing I dislike, but I think it’s common to many industries, is the profit of denim is not well distributed across the companies and the people are making denim. It’s a pity, because to produce denim is a long supply chain, and there are many people involved. And not every part of the supply chain is enjoying the beauty of denim. Some people in some countries are poorly paid…
One thing I would like to adjust somehow—and I think everybody will agree with me—is that whenever there is something that is important and isn’t addressed, the others generating a profit, let’s try to share, let’s try to balance the profit in a logical way. So everyone along the supply chain is happy to work in this industry.
Carved in Blue: How do we change the perception that chemicals are harmful?
Miguel: Chemistry is everything. We are all chemistry. But it’s true that word chemical is associated to something bad. And obviously it’s not like that—there are good chemicals and bad chemicals. And particularly in this industry of denim, the control of hazardous substances is very strict. We are separating very well the chemicals that are not good for health. We have an industry spending a lot of money and efforts to make sure that we are using the right chemicals to produce something.
So, the term chemical is not good or bad—it’s just a word. But it’s true that that’s been associated to something bad for you know, because if you do something wrong with that chemical, of course, this is it can be bad. It’s not the product itself; it’s the way you use it in all cases.