Panos Sofianos Says the Future of Denim is Now
Although denim is steeped in history, it’s the fabric’s future that offers the most promise and the most responsibility.
For Bluezone business manager Panos Sofianos, it’s no longer enough to design with one purpose in mind. The fate of our beleaguered planet depends upon the denim industry embracing its “multidisciplinary” job.
Carved in Blue talked with Panos about the past, present and future of denim—and to Panos, these three stages might as well be one.
Carved in Blue: You’ve been working in this industry and this community for a long time. What do you enjoy the most about the denim community?
Panos: In the last five years this community is blossoming and getting more and more fun. I think it’s to do with the romanticism that is behind denim. It’s not about consumption. It’s about the feeling that this fabric can create.
But at the end, [with] this new generation of blues owners, it has to do with more knowledge. It has to do with more conscience. It has to do with more concern about what they’re going to use. It’s not only about the price. It has to do also with the values that are hidden behind [it]. It has to do with the sensibility that they have about the environment and think everything is related to this.
For instance, the next concept for us and Bluezone is called All Related, which is where we wish to underline that everything is connected. And it’s something like a new blockchain, which has to do with the previous title, [which] was Bluechain. It has to do with this as a consequence of things that have to be combined in order to create a new, let’s say, not a business model but a living model. And hopefully this community is getting more and more bigger.
Carved in Blue: What is the modern definition of denim?
Panos: I would say that fashion is equal to function now. And the more we will live today and the future, we see that everything is about function. Everything is about performance. Everything is about hidden properties and values and functions.
I am a fan of wearable technology. And I have tried in the past to do some smart fabrics and think that the future and the modern definition is smart denim above all. If we are crazy about iPhones, what about iDenim? It’s the same. It’s a product that can give you more than it looks. It’s not only the outlook; it’s also some hidden properties to keep you warm. To keep your moisture controlled.
Carved in Blue: This is the modern definition of denim now? Or this is the future of denim?
Panos: The future is now. There is so much disruption around, so we don’t know what is the future. We probably live already [in] the future. We have started living in the future since the beginning of the new millennium. I think something happened when they saw the zero. And everybody was forced to do something new just to show how the new millennium is going to happen.
My opinion is that we have to be objective. What happens around you, you cannot even watch it because there is so much innovation. My opinion is that there’s too much innovation, so we’re not able to evaluate it. And we are experiencing daily new things that we’re not even able to digest.
Carved in Blue: Why do you think that is?
Panos: As I said, it’s because we have put ourselves in the big dilemma. We see this planet that is dying and what we should do about it. I think we already know that climate change is a reality. Although this famous politician, and a bunch of politicians and businessmen, they really ignore it. Not going to name the guy. You know him. He’s the perfect alibi for the industrialist to say that nothing happens.
But I would say that when I watched Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” I was shocked. And I said I’m going to do my best. Although I’m not the best user . I’m not the best in recycling, but I’m just trying to be less harmful in order to offer myself to this movement.
I’m not an activist, but I really feel that we don’t do much. So what happens now is just it’s a big revolution that there is no trust. We need to go even deeper. But we are not very well educated. We don’t know how much is the impact that already exists. The polluted oceans by plastics is incredible. And they predict that plastics will increase—that by year 2030 they will be doubled. So, my god, are we going to be the humanoids that will start learning to eat plastics in order to survive? It’s a creepy scenario. What are we doing about it? This is my question mark.
Carved in Blue: What is the present-day issue of the denim industry?
Panos: The first action is to start making a product that is less harmful, less sinful. It cannot happen at once. It cannot happen in one or two or three months. But what will have to happen is a realistic approach. The car industry, for instance, has already started this evolution, and I remember myself when I proposed this, which was made by Lenzing’s fiber, it was a product called Hybrid Denim. Hybrid Denim was conceived by the same concept as the cars because I think that making denim is a multidisciplinary job now. You don’t have to think only about the blue fabric. You have to think about the impact. You have to think about how this product will exist in the longer terms.
So the denim was made with TENCELTM Lyocell and cotton fiber derived from post-production and post-consumer shredded denims . One of them was made for KOI Kings of Indigo when we did their famous Red Light Denim . The name came from the area of Amsterdam with something that was a -bad word-, but [meaning] that when something unravels, you can find some good things. It was made with TENCELTM blended with cotton that was coming from wastage. We did the Hybrid Denim because that again is a holistic approach.
You have to accept that those things are merged. You cannot do only one thing ; it must be a consequence of things. That’s why I said multidisciplinary. It is not only by making a fabric. It is how you have to make it and to whom you are going to offer this and also why it has to be like that.
All those issues are really count now. For instance in the past airplanes used to be made by aluminum. Now they’re made by carbon fiber, nobody could believe that carbon fiber should be the part of a plane. So, if we do this in planes and cars, why don’t we do it in denim? The perfect answer is using an eco-responsible fiber which is, for example REFIBRATM Lyocell.
Note: Panos Sofianos is part of the Modern Definition of Denim video series. To see more from Panos click here.