Category: Editorial
We just released our annual Sustainability Report. And if you follow us on the regular, you know that we put a lot of work into this matter because it matters — a lot.
Fashion has always been an integral part of music, maybe not as crucial as beats, chords, words, and melody. But no matter which decade or genre you dip the proverbial toe in, clothes have been a massive part of the artist's personae. And the black denim silhouette reigns supreme.
When Johan Åberg found the indigo molecule, he fell in love with it. His passion for this organic dye compound has led to creating a blue universe.
In an episode of 'The Naked Truth About,' you met our friend and tattoo artist, Joel Albertsson. In the episode, we visited Joel's countryside home. Here he gave us a tour of his dream project, which leads him to pursue a more sustainable lifestyle for himself and his family. Through his continued refining of lifestyle and developing sustainable means of living, Joel has launched a new project called Odlingsbolaget Svalan. Odlingsbolaget Svalan is a farm focusing on sustainable vegetable cultivation. They aim to provide small-scale produced local vegetables in season directly to customers without intermediaries. They also want to engage customers' interest in how food is produced and rebuild some of the romantic views of agriculture through experience. "We work with a method called "No Dig" or "No-Till," which means disturbing the network of microorganisms and fungal mycorrhizae in the soil as little as possible. These networks circulate nutrients and make the nutrients biologically available to the plants. They also protect the plants against disease." "Instead of plowing and digging, we cover the soil with raised beds made of compost and manure. This feeds the soil with organic material and suffocates weeds at the same time as it reduces the need for irrigation and the supply of other nutrients." "We plan to focus on regenerative agriculture. We will build up our resources instead of depleting our land. This is to give ourselves and our children a better future — instead of just a sustainable one. We will continue to develop the farm; we will produce eggs, berries, fruits, nuts, and much more." – Joel Albertsson (co-Founder Odlingsbolaget Svalan)
Ever since Blake was gifted his first Iron Maiden T-shirt his love for vintage clothing has only continued to grow. Living in Los Angeles and working as a wardrobe stylist Blake has built a unique collection of garments and other rarities that might have been forgotten amid history. While we were in LA (pre-COVID), we caught up with Blake. He gave us an up-close and personal look inside his collection and taught us more about his pursuit of vintage treasures and garments that come with that little extra something. We are honored to be one of the lucky few film crews granted permission to film inside the legendary Torgom warehouse. Thank you to the entire Torgom team (Christina and Tony) and of course, Blake for this day in vintage paradise. Nudie Jeans presents The Naked Truth About Blake Hardy — Los Angeles, USA.
Denim enthusiast Daniel Bergman picked up his pair of Grim Tim Dry Selvage for his wedding party. After catching regular updates on Daniel’s denim dedicated Instagram account @redrawdenim, our curiosity got the better of us, and we had to see the jeans he had been posting about up close and personal. At the same time, we saw it as an excellent opportunity to meet the user behind this beautiful dry denim break-in journey. Daniel was kind enough to allow us to document our day with him, we got to see some local sites, grab some classic Swedish fika, and catch some fades. Daniel’s wedding party Grim Tims have surpassed 200 days of wear, and they still haven’t been washed. In this episode of The Naked Truth About you can find out how parental leave can determine how your denim rotation looks and if Daniel plans to ever drop his Grim Tims in the laundry basket. Nudie Jeans presents The Naked Truth About Daniel Bergman — Dalarna, Sweden.
Meet Michael Lundin, around here; he is also known as Micke or Mike. He is our very own “repair guy,” and much like the rest of the Nudie Jeans team, Micke has played a vital role in the launch of the Re-use online project. Mike is responsible not only for the curation of the drops that you see on nudiejeans.com but all the repairs, alterations, and embroidered art that features on the Re-use drops. An incredible contribution to what has become our most sustainable product. If some of our longtime readers feel that you may have met Mike previously or seen this behind the scenes gem before, you very well might have. But in times like these, we wanted to remind you of the value of the eventual piece of clothing in your closet that’s just one repair session away from getting back into your rotation. Shouldn’t we all be more like Mike? Sign up for news on upcoming Re-use drops and other news here.
It is with great pride that we introduce the great and powerful Maria (Erixon) Levin. Maria is the artistic advisor and co-founder of Nudie Jeans. In this episode of ‘The Naked Truth About,’ we capture an intimate look at how Maria goes about her workday. We hear Maria reflect on the essence of Nudie Jeans, denim, and jeans as a garment. As we go behind the scenes, we visit Maria in the design studio at Nudie Jeans HQ and her creative studio on Sweden’s west coast. We learn how the classic Nudie Jeans orange thread came about and how we eventually ended up working with the legendary Kaihara selvage denim fabricators. “There’s almost nothing as timeless as a pair of jeans. They can be worn by babies… you can even be buried in your jeans.” The company started 19 years ago and since then Maria has lived a life of artistic output through her denim designs and sustainable ambitions, her vision, and passion for denim have been some of the driving forces behind the brand. In 2019 Maria released her debut book ‘Start Your Own F*cking Brand‘ (available in English and Swedish). Nudie Jeans presents The Naked Truth About Maria (Erixon) Levin — Gothenburg, Sweden.
Meet our friend [Joel](https://www.instagram.com/joelkosmostattoo/). When Joel was a kid, he either wanted to become a pirate or — a tattoo artist. The latter seemed easier and today he works in his own tattoo studio in Gothenburg. We paid a visit to Joel’s studio [Kosmos Tattoo](https://www.instagram.com/kosmostattoo/) and caught him in action together with his now well-worn Nudie Jeans selvage apron. When we were done at the studio we took the opportunity to follow Joel to his countryside home, where he gave us a tour of his dream project, a project that is to help him with his pursuit of a more sustainable lifestyle. Nudie Jeans presents The Naked Truth About [Joel Albertsson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k7e_Te7-G4) — Gothenburg, Sweden.
Tsuyoshi bought his Tape Ted 16 Dips in Australia 2014 and has worn them regularly ever since. Once the jeans were well broken in and started to show signs of wear Tsuyoshi took to repairing them himself. Just like the recently released Nudie Jeans replica (style no longer available) of Tsuyoshis’s jeans feature some stunning hand made repairs. You will find 33 darning repairs and 6 boro style patch mending’s, using multiple fabrics and a variety of thread colors. We fell instantly in love with Tsuyoshi’s jeans from the minute we first laid eyes on them. Tsuyoshi’s journey with his Tape Ted jeans was very much an exploration into repairing; something he executed really well from the get-go. It is through this exploration and the tasteful mix of repair techniques the greatness of Tsuyoshi’s jeans defined — it also gives his jeans that unique character that we instantly connected with. Nudie Jeans presents The Naked Truth About Tsuyoshi Kawata — Osaka, Japan.
Photographer: Oliver Kristen (digital & analog) Models: Pia Worner @piadelaluna, Moritz @mo.bilephone Styling: Daniele Travia Collection: Winter 19 ‘Ashes to Ashes‘
A new book on the art of building a global brand by the founder of Nudie Jeans. Maria Erixon founded the denim brand Nudie Jeans with Joakim Levin, her husband at the time, in 2001. “At the time, we were almost the only company building a brand based tangibly on values. When we started Nudie Jeans in 2001, we decided that environmental awareness and human rights would permeate everything we did. The world has largely caught up in 2019 and as we’ve grown, opportunities have opened up to us to be able to contribute to the journey. We’re trying to make good use of the chance,” writes Maria Erixon in the book. In the new book Start Your Own F*cking Brand, Maria writes about the little company that became a global brand, about successes and setbacks, and the sacrifices that entrepreneurship requires. The book is also a love letter to denim and the indigo dye that turns each pair of jeans into a unique work of art – and to everyone who has been part of the journey. Start Your Own F*cking Brand is now published as a hardback in English and Swedish. You can find both versions in book stores and nudiejeans.com.
Over the course of the past 6 months we’ve seen Steven break in his Dry Selvage Steady Eddies in a spectacular way. An unfortunate turn of events made it impossible for Steven to follow through with his 12 Month Break-In Journey. However we’re glad that we got 6 months of great wear and tear, and proof that our dry selvage jeans will stand the ultimate test of serving as everyday workwear for this brilliant person. We want to thank Steven for partaking in this project, and wish him lots of luck with his future endeavors. Follow Steven on Instagram.
Only 3 months of wear and we’re seeing results that most people would spend 18 months and fat wad of cash to develop. Let’s just say that hard work does pay off. This is the next installment in the 12 month break-in journey. April journal entry: Work has been crazy. Long, 9-10 hour days. Building some very specific custom homes. It’s been a challenge on a skill level, which is good. Its a perfect time to grow in my abilities. Weekends have also been full of travel adventures. One to Vancouver to check out the international car show and one just to leave the city to get some solitude. Most days now are in its mid 20’s, Kelowna couldn’t be any better weather wise.