The Modern Definition of Denim with Andrew Olah
If the denim industry is a family dinner party of wine drinking and storytelling, then Andrew Olah sees himself as the grandfather at the table.
While it would be easy to paint his industry outlook as negative—or even cantankerous—the fact is that the Kingpins founder is incredibly proud of the industry for tackling the hard truths and implementing lots of change.
Carved in Blue talked with Andrew about the most pressing issues facing the denim industry, why competition is more vicious than ever, and why a group of denimheads is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Carved in Blue: What’s the modern definition of denim today?
Andrew: The modern definition of denim is to use indigo dyes on all sorts of different yarn sizes and shapes and compositions, in order to make an unlimited amount of styles. It’s all denim, regardless if the garment is a dress, a shirt, or a jacket. We’ve come to the point where denim fabric has unlimited opportunities.
Carved in Blue: What is the most pressing present-day issue of denim?
Andrew: Our society has lots of issues to deal with, and our little jeans world is a tiny section of global social problems. However, the developed nations simply buy more products than they need and this creates a stress on our environment from using (and not replacing) water or energy and then, of course, having no place to put our waste. Lastly, synthetic fibers account for over 60% of global fiber consumption and none of that is biodegradable. This needs to be stopped. Soon.
In the specific case of denim, the historical process of applying indigo onto yarn uses enormous amounts of water and energy. Recently there are systems that use either no or tiny amounts of water, or only recycled water and renewable energy, and with these technologies indigo dyeing will no longer be found guilty of wasting precious resources.
In addition, indigo sludge is now being put to use. So historical problems with indigo are being eradicated. Now, having said this, this represents only a few mills out of the more than 500 engaged in this work – but they are leading the way and making it easier for others to follow them, and in so doing brands will demand their mills to change. We are now, finally, on the road to success.
Carved in Blue: There’s an element of really holding on to the heritage.
Andrew: Indigo is what it is and none of us want it to go away. Indigo is adored because it does not penetrate the inside of the yarn — indigo resides on the outside of yarns. When processing an indigo garment or, when you wear it the indigo yarn will fade and it’s that fading that makes an indigo garment special. No dye can duplicate the way indigo reacts or fades to the shape of one’s life.
With that said, and demand being what it is, it is vital the denim mills take up the challenge and stop using virgin water or non renewable energy and find uses for the waste. As an industry we cannot allow brands and retailers to deplete any nation’s water or energy and leave industry waste for them to deal with. Currently most jeans are made in Bangladesh, Pakistan, China etc. Brands need to be aware that their brand value is linked to their behavior in these countries, through their manufacturing footprint as well as their social impact.
Real cost of goods is not the traditional cost of a garment but is the environmental impact and waste impact that needs to be considered on a garment cost. We are all responsible that or industry is not talking about “real costs” of a garment. But this is conversation is percolating and it will be very critical in the future.
Carved in Blue: From what I’ve heard, you create an environment where you can almost trigger a sense of collaboration in this industry through Kingpins.
Andrew: I’m proud of that. The big difference between our industry and, say, the electronics industry—are the number of brands in each domain. Electronics have very few brands while the jeans industry seems to have a limitless number of brands. So, setting industry standards is much more complicated for our industry than electronics or telecommunications.
Kingpins has always been under the mindset that we (the jeans industry) as a group are more powerful than individually—that we as a group can actually do a lot together. And [we] have and will continue to fight for collaboration and uniformity in best practises.
Carved in Blue: Has it always been this way? Was it more competitive at the very start of the industry?
Andrew: Our industry has always been super competitive. The competition can be vicious. In Kingpins Amsterdam we have 62 denim mills competing with each other for every order. We feel their struggle, because to survive today, they have to do more than they ever did. They have to conquer social media, they have to do much more product development and faster than ever before. Denim mills need to have bigger teams. They have to make sample garments, washed garments. The amount of work and the amount of investment in creating a denim collection today is probably 30-50 times more expensive and complicated than what was done in the ’80s. It’s crazy. And prices are not even higher.
Carved in Denim: What is your drive?
Andrew: I love the idea of having a job in an industry I’m passionate about and have the chance to go home and have dinner while feeling our group and I have done something more than just try to create revenue for ourselves. We all want to make a positive difference in some way. Drive comes from the opportunity to contribute.
Carved in Blue: What do you think that the future will bring to the industry? And how do we get there
Andrew: I think change is coming fast. Really fast. High speed train fast.
I’ve felt more change coming in the last three months than the previous three years. Everyone is suddenly talking about paradigmal change. Transparency is no longer a weird concept to brands and retailers and it’s becoming clear that companies have to keep up with each other which that means there is a lot of marketing opportunity for those that really wish to lead and a marketing threat for those who don’t move forward. So forward is the only way any one who values their brand to go.
Our CSR and Chemical initiatives for our Amsterdam denim working and proving change can be initiated and I am sure Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans’ Redesign effort will work.
We all need examples of impeccable behavior. Patagonia has led their industry for a long time in how a brand should behave with our environment. We need many brands to lead the Jeans Industry in excellent environmental behavior and business success. We need to show profits are possible while not damaging the planet. Once we have many examples we will become the greenest industry in apparel.