WHAT ARE NFTs?

NFTs are cryptographic assets created with the use of blockchain technology. It allows for the transfer of value across a non-replicable medium. It can be a one-of-a-kind, non-recurring token that cannot be partitioned but can be used to depict real or virtual world items, including the token’s own attributes and ownership, all while staying inside a blockchain representation. This equips NFTs with the distinct characteristics that make them so appealing. Smart contracts, which are software programmes that regulate actions such as authenticating ownership and restricting their transferability, are used to generate NFTs.

When a person creates an NFT, they write the smart software code that governs the NFT’s properties and contributes those qualities to the NFT’s blockchain. NFTs are digital files made as jpg, png,.mov, or 3D fashion files prior to getting minted (connected) to a blockchain. They are more than simply a chase to cryptocurrency. NFTs are controlled and authenticated as digital assets via digital accounting records or blockchains, and they are kept in digital wallets in the same way as cryptocurrencies and other assets are, and they serve as valuable objects sold in the digital environment.

In simple language, NFTs cannot be copied or hacked and are not mutually interchangeable, which means, no two NFTs are the same. They are non-fungible, which signifies that instead of obtaining an actual object that you may wear (and which almost certainly has many replicas in the real world), you will instead receive a one-of-a-kind JPG file that cannot be replicated.

ROLE OF NFT IN FASHION INDUSTRY

The fashion and beauty industries have made a determined effort in recent years to enhance a true and precise knowledge of business developments in order to encourage new terms that are consistent with current corporate practices. Fashion’s the only chance of re-entering the fast-paced digital train was to build NFTs, as it had entirely missed the boat with E-commerce. When e-commerce first emerged, a huge number of businesses were completely disinterested in exploring the new channel. The fashion business has become significantly more cautious since then. Sustainable fashion and beauty is a big incentive for younger millennials and Gen Z market groups. Prestige companies may use NFTs to create unique experiences for their customers, increasing brand awareness, engagement, and revenue. Despite the apparent advantages, however, fashion has yet to find out the ideal way to utilize NFTs.

NFT fever had gripped the year 2021. With the growth in Google searches for NFTs, the NFT business saw $2.5 billion in revenue during the first half of 2021, up from $13.7 million the year before. With the fashion business seeking to unlock the technology’s capabilities, it’s no surprise that Karl Lagerfeld has already stated that another release is in the works after their premiere in the virtual world.

As popular as the Karl Lagerfeld NFTs have been, it’s critical for companies to grasp how NFTs vary from other sectors that are more acclimated to selling digital items. This is mostly due to the fact that conventional fashion firms, who are known for their reluctance to digitalization, are finding it difficult to let go of their physicality. As a result, individuals who follow this business are often left wondering what NFTs are, why everyone is eager to cash in, and what they imply for a market that has stayed steadfastly physical for so long.

PLUSES AND MINUSES OF NFTs IN FASHION INDUSTRY

As a designer, an NFT may produce virtual fashion goods that are separate from real-life products, addressing the problem of digital apparel reproduction. NFT broadens the selection of one-of-a-kind things. A fashion company may utilize it to offer its own show video or customized backstage photos. When it comes to digital copies, the NFT makes it simple for collectors to find the original copy they desire. NFT might have an influence on the resale market not only by keeping track of changes in ownership of a given item but also by paying corporations a premium whenever their goods are sold in the second-hand high-end market, for example.

Regardless of their individual advantages, however, NFTs are still a pretty modern investment strategy that may provide buyers with unexpected challenges. Some issues to be aware of and investigate more before purchasing NFTs, such as the fact that anybody can take a picture of the artwork, upload it to a blockchain, and sell it, therefore purchasers must ensure that they are purchasing NFTs from the artist or that the seller has the authorization to sell the NFT. By themselves, NFTs are unable to link the production or ownership of an NFT to a real person in the physical world or to verify that the NFT’s creator has the fundamental entitlements to connect that NFT with a certain creative work.

BIG FASHION BRANDS JOINING NFT MARKET

Below is a breakdown of the many brand tactics for handling the NFT area in the fashion industry, including specific adjustments, how bitcoin carbon emissions are being mitigated, and what’s next in the space.

• RTFKT’s Virtual Sneakers

The RTFKT brand was founded in 2019 and quickly established itself as a leader in the virtual sneaker market. Early in 2021, the company worked on a project with “Fewocious,” a well-known crypto artist who was only 18 at the time. He created three virtual sneakers that buyers could “try on” via Snapchat before entering an auction to buy them. The top bidder was also given the opportunity to receive a tangible pair of sneakers to try in person. The partnership lived up to the expectations, selling 600 pairs of sneakers in just 7 minutes for a total of 3.1 million dollars.

Since then, RTKFT has expanded its portfolio by collaborating with “The Fabricant” to produce a new collection of seven virtual products, which received $8 million in their most recent financing round.

• GUCCI Selling NFTs

Gucci was the first luxury house to venture into the world of non-traditional textiles. The NFT of the legendary Italian fashion business was inspired by a movie by their “Aria” collection in cooperation with Alessandro Michele, rather than being patterned after fashion products. Christie’s auctioned this four-minute clip for a whopping 25,000 million dollars.

• Louis Vuitton- NFTs collecting Game

On the occasion of its founder’s 200th birthday on August 4th, Louis Vuitton merged fashion and technology by releasing “Louis the Game,” an adventure-style game in which players must navigate around Vivienne’s dollhouse.

Aside from that, gamers flocked to various locations to acquire 200 candles to commemorate the 200th anniversary of their birth. The trip included 30 hidden NFTs and 10 NFTs created in partnership with prominent NFT artist “Beeple.” This game’s NFTs are free to gather and not for sale to the general public.

• Prada’s Partnership With Adidas

In the latest incarnation of luxury in the metaverse, Prada is presenting its first NFT in collaboration with Adidas: an audience digital work in a Beeple-style collage.

Anyone may register to upload an image using a specifically developed filter that will be modified, jumbled up, and 40% of the image erased to make the image anonymous starting on January 24. Three thousand of the individual images will be chosen at random and minted as one-of-a-kind NFTs by Adidas for free. The owner of the artwork will be the person who submitted it, and they will be able to sell their NFT on the secondary market. Zach Lieberman, a digital artist, and creative coder will subsequently merge the selected photographs into tiles into one massive patchwork NFT.

• Burberry With Blankos Block Party

Burberry collaborated with a video game company to create its own NFTs. After the triumph of its own game, B Bounce debuted in 2019, the brand went into the digital world by collaborating with Mythical Games’ Blankos Block Party on a charming shark Blanko that can be acquired, updated, and sold in-game. The Burberry NFT, unlike Ethereum, does not function on the energy-intensive Proof of Work crypto paradigm, but rather on a proprietary EOSIO blockchain protocol that uses a significantly less energy-intensive Proof of Authority methodology.

• Overpriced- Scannable Hoodies

Overpriced, the world’s first NFT-driven fashion business, has created a real-life sweatshirt with a scannable code that allows the hoodie’s owner to show it around. This sweatshirt is being auctioned for $26,000 USD on the NFT site “BlockParty.”

Because most fashion labels, such as Balenciaga and Fortnite, place their NFTs inside closed systems, the concept of a virtual wardrobe that moves across multiple gaming platforms and digital worlds is still a work in progress. Polygon, for example, is attempting to alter this. Dolce & Gabbana, a luxury fashion business, has launched NFTs on the platform, emphasizing the ease with which their clothing may be moved between many digital “worlds.” “There’s going to be a lot of money in the NFT fashion industry,” said Joseph Pallant, the creator of the Blockchain for Climate Foundation and an NFT specialist.

FUTURE WITH FASHION & METAVERSE- UNLOCKING LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES WITH NFT MARKET

The co-founder of stablecoin Tether, William Quigley said, “I’m betting that the revenue model for the metaverse is going to be NFTs.” The Bitcoin pioneer, Quigley, sees the Metaverse as “a massive economic force that will profoundly affect people’s lives in the years ahead.” The fashion industry must grasp that NFTs are all about digital item ownership, and the Metaverse is merely extending that notion into one or more virtual worlds in order to prepare for the metaverse’s future. Despite the fact that the Metaverse as a business model is still in its infancy, NFTs are turning this creative playground to life.

Neuno, created by Natalie Johnson, sees the promise of NFTs as well. Neuno is urging the fashion industry to reach a digital utopia where one may possess a unique piece of “fashion history” by bridging the gap between the actual world and NFTs.

You can’t discuss NFTs and the Metaverse without mentioning the recent emergence of NFT markets, which provide users with a location to purchase and trade NFTs. Investors such as billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, music tycoon Jay-Z, and Google Ventures, which give seed, venture, and growth-stage capital to digital firms, have taken notice of some of these sites. The vocabulary of the future will revolve around NFTs, cryptocurrency, blockchain, skins, and metaverse.

Circularity has been discussed by Dame Ellen MacArthur since 2010, although the concept has only lately gained popularity. After retiring from sailing 12 years ago- MacArthur being the first woman to solo around the globe- she founded the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to bring together the worlds of business, education, fashion, agriculture, and beyond to conceive a dramatic transformation to a “circular economy.” A circular economy, in contrast to our existing linear concept of creation, consumption, and disposal, entails reducing waste, keeping items in circulation, and renewing nature.

MacArthur launched the book on the 2nd of December, 2021, at Business of Fashion VOICES. Circular Design for Fashion was created in honor of fashion’s enormous potential to change to a circular economy, as well as its creatives – enthusiastic disruptors who are always looking for new ways to innovate. The book introduces a new design approach and inspires designers to think about how they might help shape a more resilient and successful fashion sector that addresses climate change and biodiversity loss. Investigate the challenges of creating with three concepts in mind: reducing waste and pollution, cycling products and resources, and renewing nature. The book presents an assorted mix of voices, well-known names like Stella McCartney, Gabriela Hearst, and Eileen Fisher, as well as upcoming designers like Bethany Williams and Duran Lantink, upcycling professionals like ADIFF’s Angela Luna and Loulwa Al Saad, regenerative agriculture assets like Fibershed and FarFarm, Gucci and its parent company Kering, and some of the industry’s most successful corporations like Inditex, Fast Retailing, and H&M.

SUBSISTENCE BY CIRCULAR DESIGN

Many firms and designers in the fashion field have begun to take initiatives to remove waste and pollution from their product lifecycles in recent years. Elodie Rousselot, the strategic design manager at Ellen MacArthur Foundation says, “I think we’re witnessing a beautiful moment in the industry, where many are actively looking at how they can change their businesses and the way they design products to be fit for the circular economy.” The goal of circular design is to create goods and services that don’t have a linear life cycle with a beginning, middle, and conclusion. The goal is to create goods that can “be produced to be made again,” as ex- CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown phrased it.

The move to a circular economy (CE) presents designers with a variety of new issues and necessitates particular knowledge, tactics, and methodologies. The CE idea broadens the scope of the design process and encourages the incorporation of new knowledge domains and abilities. Throughout all phases of the design process, substantial engagement with stakeholders and specialists is required for the CE to be implemented successfully in reality. Design firms have responded to the CE by forming dedicated CE research and design workgroups, facilitating information flow, constructing their own circular strategies and techniques, and pursuing long-term client relationships that encourage designers to become involved in the lifecycles of crafted artifacts rather than viewing design projects as one-time events. Many designers have taken the initiative too. Amongst such designers are the six contributors, highlighted by Rousselot in MacArthur’s book, who are at the forefront of the movement towards the circular fashion industry.

ORANGE CUTURE BY ADEBAYO OKE-LAWAL

Adebayo Oke-Lawal creates gender-neutral clothing with a 90 percent indigenous Nigerian supply chain that includes everything from material procurement to dyeing and printing. The designer tries to guarantee that money stays in the community through his Lagos-based label Orange Culture, while also training his suppliers and staff about sustainable manufacturing processes so that they may apply what they’ve learned to other initiatives.

“They’ve also begun encouraging shoppers to return undesired clothing so that it may be turned into new outfits and sold again. It’s more than just a repair service. It’s almost as though the clothing had a new narrative to tell.” Rousselot said, “Orange Culture uses the offcuts from its manufacturing process to form new products or elements such as lining.”

RAEBURN BY CHRISTOPHER RAEBURN

Whilst pursuing fashion design in London in the early 2000s, Christopher Raeburn began working with excess fabrics and clothes, purchasing unworn military coats from the 1950s for £1 apiece and reworking them into new outfits. Since then, he’s pushed to expand the use of reused materials in mass production with his own British Fashion Award-winning label Raeburn, along with switching ‘Timberland’ to regeneratively cultivated leather as creative director for the footwear company.

“He was one of the first to bring this practice to a commercial scale, in a way that is attractive and different from what you would expect from an ‘eco brand,” Rousselot said.

ICICLE BY YE SHOUZENG AND TAO XIAOMA

Icicle, a Chinese company founded in 1997 by husband-and-wife team Ye Shouzeng and Tao Xiaoma, uses five primary materials – cashmere, linen, wool, silk, and cotton – that is sustainably sourced and lightly treated to preserve the attention on the fibers’ inherent beauty. To maintain transparency and protect the welfare of garment workers, the company does all of its design and manufacture in-house at its own facilities.

Rousselot quotes about the innovative couple- “They are bringing this different perspective to a circular design, which is based on traditional Chinese philosophy and runs counter to the Western idea that we’re born, we die and then that’s it”

MARINE SERRE

Aside from her signature crescent moon motif, French designer Marine Serre is recognized for using repurposed materials such as household linens, carpets, and towels in 50% of her designs. Serre’s work, which was awarded the esteemed LVMH prize in 2017 and is distributed by big shops like Selfridges and Browns, demonstrates that waste materials, notwithstanding their nasty reputation, may have a place in the premium fashion industry.

“She’s extremely cutting edge in the way she designs with these textiles,” Rousselot said. “In fashion design, usually what students are taught to do is to define a color palette that will guide their collection and then find the fabrics to match.”

FIBERSHED

Fibershed is a non-profit organization that assists businesses in gaining access to hyper-local textile supply chains by employing regenerative agricultural techniques that retain carbon in the soil rather than releasing it. Designer Phoebe English recently produced a line of outfits for the COP26 climate conference in conjunction with its regional arm in South East England, for which all fabrics were farmed, dyed, spun, and processed within a 250-kilometer radius of her London studio.

Rousselot quotes- “This approach means you are not growing hectares of cotton, you’re growing different types of crops that naturally thrive in the area such as nettle or hemp.”

NKWO BY NKWO ONWUKA

Nkwo Onwuka, a British-Nigerian designer, created Dakala, a new African textile that looks like hand-loomed fabric but is manufactured by stripping and putting together discarded denim pieces. She currently instructs indigenous women in Abuja to use their traditional textile crafts abilities to manufacture new garments from the heaps of garment trash transported to Nigeria from western nations, with the goal of “weaving waste into prosperity.”

“She’s also started looking at sourcing cotton locally,” Rousselot explained. “Nigeria doesn’t grow a lot of cottons but unlike in Kyrgyzstan, where it’s a cause of desertification, in Nigeria, it can grow rain-fed so it doesn’t require extra irrigation.”

CIRCULAR FASHION: THE CURRENT SCENARIO

The circular fashion industry is being embraced by more than just independent or eco-friendly apparel manufacturers. 64 of the world’s largest fashion brands, including Adidas and Inditex, inked a pledge in January 2018 to speed the transition to a circular business model. Adidas, for example, decided to address the issue of materials by gradually implementing a 3-Step Loop Strategy, in which Step 1 is to use recycled materials, Step 2 is to make those recycled materials part of a loop that can be reused, and Step 3 is to bio-fabricate the materials of the future so that when they come out of the loop, they are biodegradable and can be returned to nature without endangering it.

Denim is a wardrobe must for millions of individuals all over the world. The manufacture of a single pair of jeans in traditional way consumes 3,781 liters of water, which is a fact that the majority are unaware of. However, of late, we have seen that Ellen MacArthur foundation and other initiatives in the industry have ensured that the industry moves firmly in the direction of circularity and we hope to see huge changes very soon.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation had created The Jeans Redesign, a set of recommendations aimed at encouraging the denim industry to embrace the circular economy more effectively. Hundreds of companies have already signed on and committed their support. Among them are Gap, H&M, Wrangler, and a many other well-known brands. In June 2021, the first redesigned jeans utilizing the criteria was finished, proving that circular jeans may be made now.

IMPORTANCE OF CIRCULAR FASHION ON PLANET

“Cradle to Cradle is like good gardening; it is not about “saving” the planet but about learning to thrive on it,” a quote by Michael Braungart says it all. The contemporary industrial infrastructure’s design goal is to provide an appealing product that is inexpensive, complies with rules, performs well enough, and lasts long enough to fulfil market expectations. With a projected worldwide population of nine billion people by 2030, nature will face unprecedented challenges in meeting human demands. The purpose of circular fashion is to guarantee that clothing is manufactured from safe and renewable materials, that innovative business models increase its usage, and that old clothing is reused. We want to see the garment industry progress to a future where every material is securely used and reused, ecosystems are protected, and people have meaningful jobs. This is the circular fashion philosophy, as well as why it is so vital.

Clothes are an outward manifestation of our personality, and while variety is important, we should be more careful of how much we really need.

For denimsandjeans, the initial months were very tough, back to back postponement of shows were pushing us towards abyss but with the supports of our partners, we adapted very soon and started our brainstorming on how to connect the industry when everything and every one was struggling on mobility. In this article, we would like to share some of our reports, efforts and talks that helped the stakeholders of global denim community to understand whats happening, where the industry is looking forward to move in coming years due to this pandemic and how the things have been changing rapidly?

Reports On COVID and Its Impact On Clothing/Textile/Denim Industry

In this segment, we would like to list some of the reports which we did on COVID’s impact on the industry.

1. COVID 19 Emerges As The Biggest Threat To BANGLADESH
2. Will CAMBODIA Be Able To Make COMEBACK?
3. COVID 19 Hits Jeans Export From China To EU, Plunges By 40% In Jan’20 YOY
4. How’s Vietnam Doing?
5. COVID Hits Indian Denim Industry Hard, Export Falls By 31% In March 2020
6. Fashion Weeks Go Digital, What About Trade Shows and Sourcing?
7. Jobs Of Millions Of Bangladeshi Garment Workers At Stake

COVID TIMES – An Instagram Live Chat Show with Denim Experts

It would be not an exaggeration if we could call the year 2020 – a digital year, the people at different places used to zoom, Instagram, Whatsapp, and other social media and video conferencing apps to stay connected. Netflix and Amazon saw a massive spike in their subscription and then we thought to leverage this mode to talk about the denim industry, its issues, and the way ahead.

COVID TIMES was one of our initiatives through which we used the Instagram Live feature and Zoom Webinars to invite denim experts to discuss different subjects pertaining to denim, especially SUSTAINABILITY.

Here are the 7 talks one should not miss:

1. Adriano Goldschmied – The Godfather Of Denim
2. A Talk with the owners of Artistic Milliners
3. Aamir Akhtar – CEO of Arvind Limited
4. What Next For Denim
5. Can Denim Be Truly Green
6. Denim Washing In Near Future
7. Panel Discussion on Turkish Denim Industry

Apart from our COVID TIMES talks, we had many talks at our virtual shows and other platforms. The latest talk series we have launched was – A 5 Minuter Talk, you can watch all the episodes on our youtube channel.

Our all talks are available on our official youtube and Instagram channel. You can listen podcasts of our all talks at Spotify now.

Efforts Towards Digitalisation Of Denim Sourcing and Trade Shows

Launch of Virtual Shows

In the month of July 2020, we had announced the launch of our first denimsandjeans virtual show where for the first time denim supply chain partners were got an opportunity to have a one to one video calls with their buyers in real-time. Leading denim companies including Artistic Milliners, Artistic Fabric Mills, Jeanologia, Tonello, Arvind Denim, Raymond UCO, Archroma, Garmon/Kemin, Deridesen, Ribbontex, Siddiqsons, Indigo Textile and Wiser Wash participated in the show.

Exhibitors were given virtual booths where they can enter and interact with the buyers visiting their booths, exhibitors were even able to share their brochures and screen with the buyers to present their collection digitally. The show also had over 12 denim sessions where leading denim experts shared their thoughts on the latest developments and design innovation through different talks, seminars and panel discussions.

The show got an unprecedented response from the industry and witnessed the participation of over 35 companies around the globe from the supplying side including mills, factories, chemical manufactures, technology companies, and consultants. Over 1000+ buyers from leading retailers/brands have logged in to the platform in two days to see the latest offerings and have also appreciated the effort to organize this one of its own kind of show.

Extending the success of the 1st virtual show, Denimsandjeans hosted the 2nd show virtual show in the month of October and another follow-up show in the month of November under a theme – Sustainable Interplay, propagating the joint and equal responsibility of both buyers and suppliers towards sustainability. More details can be accessed at www.virtual.denimsandjeans.com

DE-Brands : A B2B Denim Sourcing App

De-Brands, a prodigy of Denimsandjeans and the 1st b2b denim sourcing app was launched in a new avatar this year with new modifications and designs.

The app offers a unique opportunity to the denim suppliers to set up its virtual showroom and connect with their buyers virtually 24*7 on 365 days of the year. The app is available on both Playstore(android) and AppStore(ios) as well the web version has also been launched in a completely different look this year. The web version can be accessed at www.de-brands.com

The app has over 55+ exhibitors and 350+ buyers.

Support to denim professionals affected due to pandemic

Denimsandjeans invited all the denim designers, washing experts, and sustainability warriors who have lost their work/jobs during the COVID pandemic. We all have witnessed a very disturbing time in the past few months, a lot of people left us, and a lot of professionals/workers were forced to leave their positions.

This invitation was for those denim professionals who wanted to provide services to the industry in terms of designing, washing, marketing, consulting, etc. These services are looked for by different global companies and through our network, we endeavored to reach their messages to such companies.

During the Denimsandjeans Virtual show held on July 22-23 , there was an interesting talk scheduled with Stefano Aldhighieri and Maurizio Donadi – both well known veterans in the denim industry . And the title was very topical and interesting – STATE OF RETAIL IN OUR INDUSTRY.  Retail is the most affected segment of our industry and having a snowballing effect on the entire supply chain and millions of people employed globally. However, for some reasons, the talk could not be held as scheduled . Both of them kindly agreed to record their talk post show and share with all of us  ! We bring the video (check here)  of their talk below alongwith some key points raised .

The beginning of the video is quite interesting with a virtual assistant bringing some interesting data to the talk :

• In US retail space is over saturated
• US has over 23.5 sq feet of retail space per person
• This is twice that of Australia , 5 times that of Japan and over 10 times that in Germany or South Korea
• Store closing started few years back
• In 2017- 8139 US stores closed, 6000 in 2018 and over 9100 in 2019.

Both of them agreed that the problem with the retail did not start with Covid19 and it was already under progression for last few years. The malls in US grew more than twice the rate of population growth between 1970 and 2015 and the growth was bound to hit a speed breaker at some point of time and the numbers above give some idea of the state of affairs in the retail. Stefano mentioned that the stores that closed before were somehow re-opened over time- however, with Covid closures, the re-openings would be much lesser.

Maurizio agreed with him and said that the times before were challenging for retail but not disruptive – which they are now. But there will be companies who will take advantage of this situation and re-purpose the retail space. Both agreed that there are a lot of retailers who should not be there and who do not offer anything different from the store next door except being a dollar cheaper ! If a brand does not have a soul – it should not exist.

Stefano made a very interesting statement  on state of consumer purchases in last few years specially with social media getting stronger :

“Consumers are buying crap with money they don’t have to impress people they don’t like “

Maurizio mentioned about identity crisis being faced by brands now  – not only a revenue crisis , the crisis of values and principles of a brand. The brands need to consider that without a soul, they have no reason to exist . He mentioned about two scenarios – between now and till the time a vaccine is made. Till that time, its a fight for survival and one needs to come out of the situation. And after that some people would want to go to pre-covid situation in terms of their brand’s principles . But there will be companies who will be coming completely different and with a much clearer identity and an interesting proposition which they may not have now. Both of them also hoped that the luxury brands would really make luxury products !

Stefano gave a good example of Ron Johson who tried to transform JC Penny few years ago but was chased out of the company for trying to reduce volumes. However, he was perhaps right and JC Penny would have been in a better position today if he had succeeded.

He also gave a good example of Paul Smith store in London where he usually visited with not a purpose to buy anything but ended up doing so as the offering was so compelling and customer service so great . So the brands need to position themselves well and bring out compelling products for the consumers. Even premium denim would sell if it was really premium !

Maurizio also mentioned that hopefully there will be less discounts in the future – something that has destroyed the market and the price points and products are more honest.

The entire talk was really interesting with some great insights and it would be best to check out the entire talk on video from this link

Sea Washed(!) : The jeans have been hand washed in the sea and dried on the rocks nearby.This means that the washing effects will be subtle and denim will be hard (no chemicals to soften the denim are used).’Whiskering’ and ‘honeycombing’ will come with time as the jeans wears out..Exclusive tailoring is used whereby each jeans is tailored by a single operator who signs each completed pair(if I am correct -Earnest Sewn also uses such tailoring techniques to ensure quality).
The overall effect of all the above mentioned techniques would probably give a clean ,natural looking jeans with somewhat trouser looks. Here is a Evisu’s SS09 Milan Spring Summer Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtWgbzmh-QQ&eurl=http://www.evisu.com/blog/2008/07/09/evisus-ss09-milan-spring-summer-video/]

Related Links on Evisu:
Evisu Autumn Winter ’08 Milan Men’s Show
Evisu Autumn Winter’08 Milan Show Video
Backstage photos at Milan ’09 Show

In the Premium segment the prices are in the range of Rs 2000-4000(USD 50-USD75), Super premium has price range of Rs 4000-6000(USD 75-100) and Connosieur segment is Rs 6000-12000(USD 150-300). Levi’s wants to increase its presence in these segments. It however does not want to be present in the Mid Price Segment ie Rs 1000-2000(USD 25-50) .Thus Levi’s India is following the International trends where Value and Premium segments are expected to do better than the mid priced segments. The Value offering of Signature is Levis’ take on the local Indian brands who are selling decent jeans in the range of Rs 600-Rs1200/ – but who do not have the brand value of Levi’s.
The estimates for the market of Premium and Super Premium denim in India are about 7 million and 3 million (though I need to verify the same) and offer substantial possibilities for growth for brands like Levi’s.However, the going will not be as smooth since Levi’s will not be able to offer great washes in its Signature line – and washes are one of the biggest factor for purchase of Jeans by the young.

Exports of Mens/Boys jeans from India and Bangladesh to USA in 2006 and 2007

Source :US customs

From the figures given above , we can see that the exports of jeans from India registered a fall of 8% in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006. However, the second and the third quarter have seen a steady increase in exports of jeans to US inspite of the appreciation of rupee.
On the other hand, the exports from Bangladesh continue to register a robust increase in all the three quarters of 2007..Bangladesh,in any case, has a huge lead over India in exports of Jeans and it seems to be increasing the gap further.
What is interesting is that the exports from India have not registered a fall despite the huge appreciation of rupee. This signifies that the additional capacities of jeans manufacturing have been created in India and the increase in exports would have been very significant, had the rupee not appreciated so much.
However, the next 2 quarters would show whether the Indian companies can sustain the growth in exports despite rupee appreciation or not – though i believe that the exports may grow stably given the excess capacities available in the industry..

This edition of ‘Denim by Premiere Vision’ is dedicated to Spring/SUmmer 2009 collections and the June edition will be dedicated to the Autumn / Winter 2009 collections of denim.
A separate fair for DENIMS has been necessitated by the individual needs of the industry where the process of selection of fabrics and its testing at various stages takes longer than other fabrics..
To see the participants list, click here and scroll down

All figures are in Million Dozens.

Source : US Customs

Interesting…