Towards A Brighter Blue

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Here's a few words about why we started. In 2004, we were part of a group in & around the Amsterdam International Fashion Week event. At the time our mission was to 'put Amsterdam on the map as an inspiring, vibrant and internationally oriented destination for fashion people. Whilst we were doing so, we came to realise that in fact Amsterdam, from an international perspective, is more a DENIM city. In the late 90's, G-Star broke free from their holding company and launched the Elwood. Around the same time, Pepe Jeans moved their HQ from London to Amsterdam. These two companies went on to become industry leaders. Some of their employees left to join or form ambitious smaller brands like Denham, Blue Blood, Kings of Indigo, Kuyichi, moshi moshi/evisu europe. Fast-forward 15 years down the line and Amsterdam has become on of the industry's hotbeds of innovation. The Hilfiger group is based here, as is Levis Vintage Clothing and Scotch & Soda.

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OK, so there's a booming scene. Business is good. But... scratch the surface and you realise that we are at the wealthy, comfortably clean end of a pretty dirty industry. According to research published by Levis, making a single jean requires 7000 litres of water and large amounts of toxic chemicals that in many cases are released into drinking water without any treatment. Work standards and pollution are horrific. Although most A-brands take efforts to clean up their own production, we feel there's a responsiblilty to connect & inspire the industry to collaborate towards clean innovations.

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Another big surprise to us was that this huge (over 50 billion dollars, estimated) industry has not a single dedicated school, college or university training talent for it; nor is anyone studying it (apart from local institutes focussing on a single step, like cotton crops, spinning, weaving, engineering or design). ​

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For these reasons combined, we decided that something had to change. We set up the House of Denim foundation with a clear mantra: Towards a Brighter Blue. Let's make this industry cleaner, dryer and smarter. Our 4 pillars are education, research & innovation, enterprise and networking.