Category: News

The 2nd Bangladesh Fashion Students’ Denim Design Contest successfully completed on 3rd March ,2016 at Hotel Radisson , Dhaka . This was an  initiative  to bring the talent of aspiring young designers of Bangladesh to the world. The students from multiple fashion universities including INIFD,  NIFT,SMUCT, BUFT etc. had participated in this competition .

The students were given the theme of ‘Hi – Fashion Denim’ – a trend seen since last year whereby denim has entered the echelons of haute couture clothing. The students were invited to create designs on this concept and provided guidelines and support for the same. We had also planned that the garments of the students would be show cased on the FASHIONIM RUNWAY and the students created the garments with the same in mind. The best 15 garments were also to be put up on voting at our Denimsandjeans show where all the visitors and exhibitors would vote on the designs.

We were frankly not expecting too many international level designs to come up and were expecting to do one single sequence with the garments at the runway. However, we were stumped to see a large number of highly creative designs coming up from the students and we had to finally create 3 sequences at the runway and that too with some difficulty as it was very difficult to reject most of them.

The whole process of students design competition was guided by  Ms Anna Troupe, a sustainable design lecturer and social entrepreneur based in Dhaka. Besides there were great contributions by others including Mr Tanveer, Mr Arief Labu, Mr Jamil and Mr Rubaiyat and our Bangladesh and India teams  – all of whom helped the students in different ways in reaching the right destination in terms of their designs.

The FASHIONIM runway was already very hot when the collections of Vicunha Textil and Envoy Textil came to the ramp. However, it was literally set on fire when the designs of students were visible on the confidently walking models.  The audience were very excited to see some great designs and applauded them all the way. The excited students – who were also present at the show – did not leave any chance of encouraging the models who wore their designs and electrified the atmosphere. Yes ! it was for the first time in the history of denim  fashion shows, the designs of young students of Bangladesh was showcased to an international audience including Diesel team from Italy and India. Each and Every design was sophisticated and jaw dropping as well as demiurgic and had received tons of appreciation from all the attendees of FASHIONIM. The theme ‘Denim In High Fashion’ which was well captured and well executed by the students .  

The students started with Let’s have a look at the sketches the students created and converted them into wonderful designs.

The conceptualized designs were then converted into garments specifically tailored to model sizes . The beautiful garments can be seen below :

Click here to see video of Fashion Show : Students Garments

The 15 shortlisted designs were voted upon by all exhibitors and visitors creating a high level of excitement among the students and the universities.

The votes were counted and the winners were declared. We are happy to announce the names of the winners :-

Special mention and thanks to Vicunha Group for sponsoring a cash prize for the students besides their beautiful DENIM GLASSES which were given to the first prize winner.

There was one special prize for a student , Purna Ahmed , who won the award in the denim accessory section by designing a beautiful Denim Hat – which became very popular and  was one of the center of attraction at the photobooth .

Our very special thanks to ENVOY GROUP for providing great support in terms of prizes, sponsorship and guidance. Also we thank SQUARE GROUP for providing the fabric support.

The 5^th Edition of Denimsandjeans.com Bangladesh show ended on a great positive on 3^rd March, 2016  at Dhaka.
The show had 30 exhibitor companies from Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Switzerland, Pakistan, China, Turkey, Indonesia, UAE and had over 1620 visitors.The highlight among the buyers’ visit  was that of  Diesel Teams from Italy and India to the show and specially when it was the first of its kind in this region by the team.  455  companies and over 1620 visitors  from around the world  visited the show, among them being important retailers, buying houses, major factories , agents etc.  Some of the visiting companies  were :

Bestseller United India Pvt.Ltd., Beaumanoir Group,Cecil, Celio Sourcing, Cortefi El Commercial S.A.,Defacto, Diesel Italy , Diesel India, Eclorte Ingles, Ginatricot, Groupe, Beaumanoir, H&M, Itx Trading S.A, Kappahl Far East Ltd., Kik, Lc Waikiki, Levi Strauss & Co., Marks & Spencer, Next Sourcing, Otto International (Hong Kong) Ltd., Otto International Hermes, Puls Trading Far East Limited, Redpoint Jackets Limited, Shop Direct, Target, Tesco, Tesco International, Tom Tailor, Vf Asia Ltd., Walmart Services Ltd.\Crossline, Eco Sourcing Limited, Edcon (Pty) Limited, Ids Group, Indesore Trading, Indochine International, Krayons Sourcing Limited, Kwun Tong Apparels Ltd., Mark Designers Ltd., Nafisa Int’l Trading (BD) Ltd., Ovs Spa Con Socio Unico, Perry Ellis International, Poeticgem International Ltd, Puls Trading Far East Limited, Redpoint Jackets Limited, Sams Attire Ltd, Shelsham Trading Co. Ltd, Synergies Sourcing Bangladesh Limited, Tesco International Sourcing, Tex Alliance, Tex Styles BD Ltd, Tex Tech Co. Ltd., The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Ltd, The TMS Group, Yariqa Fashion, ZXY INTERNATIONA , Chantik Gapmentg Ltd., Dawngroup of Companies, Dekko Group, Design & Source Ltd., Dird Group, Elegant, Epyllion Group, Genesis Washhig Ltd., Jmc Jeans, Km Group, M&J Group, Mayc’s Garments Ltd., MBM Group, Mohammadi Group, Nassa Group, Palmal Group, Panwin Group, Passion Jeans Ltd, Regency Garment Limited, Renaissance Group, Renaissance Sourcing Ltd., Standard Group., Sterling Style Ltd., Tusuka, Unique, Vertex Group, Vogue Tex (Pvt) Ltd,, Windy Group

The show had great response which enthused our exhibitors and made them give eloquent reviews for the show. The video below gives comments from some of the exhibitors who participated from far and wide.

Denimsandjeans is not limited to being  a trade show but is a denim event where a number of activities take place and bring together the global  denim fraternity where they can share their views , ideas , new technologies , business propositions etc. and enable a closer bonding among them. The 5^th show was no exception and a number of events took place including seminars, live video conferences, student competitions etc.

Global Denim Trends For AW’17- US/Europe/ Asia

Live Video Conference by Leopoldo Durante – Italy

For the first time in any such show , Denimsandjeans organized a direct live video presentation by the Denim Connoiseur– Leopoldo Durante from Italy. Leopoldo is a denim veteran whose over 25 years experience in denim with some of the most respected brands in the industry including Evisu, Versace Jeans, Martelli, Levi’s , Vf, D&G , Cavalli , Mustang and a host of other important names . He is also the Creative Director of his own eco friendly brand – Care Label . Leopoldo gave some insights into the latest trends for AW’17 for denim and how there was a large difference in the denim created in US, Europe and Asia. He also explained how these differences would gradually be reduced to bring out more natural and authentic denim over the next 2 years. Pl click here for his full presentation

Hi-Fashion Washes for AW’17

Live Video Presentation by Vasco Pizarro from Pizarro Laundries, Portugal

Another first where a live video presentation directly from the showroom of Pizarro laundries enabled the visitors at our show to be directly view the latest washes and wash trends in denim . Vasco displayed a large collection of Hi Fashion  washes, which their company is undertaking for AW17 . He brought out some intricate washings on jeans including distressing on multiple patchworks, multiple dyeing , intricate color spotting on jeans and distressing. One of the highlights of his presentation was sublimation printing on various denim and even non denim products including wool . One amazing wash which he showed was a complete change in wash look in the front and back panels of the jeans without having washed them separately !

Denim For Z Generation

A Presentation by Zafer Bozdag, Turkey

• High Elastic Denim and beyond ,Constructions and Finishings in Superstretch denims
• Discussion on problems and solutions

Zafer Bozdag, the reputed denim consultant from Turkey, once again brought out interesting an aspect of denims currently used by the young generation – the super stretches. He explained how the super stretches are being used by the in-brands and the problems faced by producers in using these fabrics . He explained with the help of a big collection of jeans (which the audience was happy to go through) , how the varying degree of stretches used can affect the garment and can cause great style or create problems. (detailed info on the same will be there in another post )

Practical Approaches To Sustainable Denim Production

A panel discussion organized by GIZ – PSES and moderated by Rodney Reed

There was a great panel discussion organized by the GIZ which brought out some of the practical things that the companies in the supply chain were doing to create sustainable denim production.  Panelists from reputed companies including H&M, Archroma, GIZ PSES, Zaber Zubair and Envoy Textiles shared their experiences and practical approaches to sustainability that they have been following in their companies .

2nd Bangladesh Fashion Students’ Denim Design Contest

Taking forward  from our last show, we  organized for the second time a competition among the students of Fashion Universities of Bangladesh to bring out cool designs with the theme ‘ Hi-Fashion Denim ‘  . The students brought out some outstanding designs which made it very difficult for us to select the best ones !  In fact the task to select 15 best to go for voting by visitors at our show was very tough . Besides , for the first time, we brought these collections on the runway during our FASHIONIM event on 2^nd March.  The designs  very much appreciated by international audience at the show.

The students were guided by Ms Anna Troupe – a social  and a teacher . They were also helped by , Mr Tanvir, Mr Arief Labu , Mr Jamil, Mr Rubaiyat and of course our own teams in Bangladesh  and India .

The best 15 designs were put to vote and  visitors and exhibitors to the show voted on same . In the collage below can be seen the sketches initially prepared by the students and later converted into fabulous garments.

Shovon Majumder, SMUCT (middle) secured 1st position, Fatema Zohoro, SMUCT (right) secured 2nd position, Shamim Ara Nasrin, NIFT (left) secured 3rd position at 2nd Bangladesh Fashion Students’ Denim Design Contest. Besides the award from our show, the three winners received a sponsored cash  prize by Vicunha Textil, Brazil . They also gave the wonderful denim glasses (made from their fabric) to the first prize winner and the main guide .

FASHIONIM – The Runway Show

Bringing out the FASHIONIM for the third time, we had exclusive collections from two of our exhibitors and great companies – VICUNHA , Brazil and ENVOY TEXTILES – Bangladesh . Their  beautiful SS’17 collections set the stage of fire  !

VICUNHA

ENVOY

STUDENTS’ GARMENTS

The highlight of the FASHIONIM event was the designs created by the students. These designs, catering to the Haute Couture , were amazing and brought out the

Adding to the list of FIRSTS at our Denimsandjeans.com Bangladesh show was the LIVE VIDEO  presentation by Leopoldo Durante from Italy . Leopoldo, a veteran in denim industry who has worked with some of the most respected brands in the industry including Evisu, Versace, D&G, Martelli, Miss Sixty and a host of other names in his 25 years of career, agreed to present his vision for denims in AW17 directly from his office in Italy to our visitors and audience in Dhaka through a skype presentation on 10 x 8 feet wide screen at our show. It was an experiment by us and as in all new experiments there is an element of fear of something unexpected to happen. However, the presentation went through like a cakewalk and Leopoldo’s larger than life image on the screen , his booming Italian voice and his deep knowledge on denim impressed the audience very much. The presentation, which lasted over 30 minutes , enabled the audience to directly see what was Leopoldo’s vision of denim becoming in the Fall ‘17 .
We are giving here below the text of the presentation that he made along with some slides from his presentation. But the best part is to check out the video on this page where a part of his presentation is uploaded on YouTube here or just click on image below .

Actual text of Leopoldo’s Skype Presentation

I am a designer. I used to travel a lot around the world. I went to Los Angeles and New York, London, Berlin. I went to Tokyo. I live in Italy. We have three different continents with three different visions on indigo, denim and jeans. The US is a huge market. Europe is a great market. In Asia the denim market and production is concentrated in Japan. In the US brands are focused on celebrities denim. Europe is obsessed with designer denim. Asia is focused on vintage denim.

In the US the market is focused on women’s wear. They have women as ambassadors. The market is not focused on quality but on celebrities who wear denim. And they call it premium. But I feel it’s not true. It’s not premium in the sense we call it. It is called premium because it’s worn by the wealthy. I would not call it jeans, I would call it pants. And this is ironical because the American people invented denim. But what they do is sell super stretch for women at astronomical prices. And it is not even denim. It is just a pair of pants.

The situation in Europe is more focused on the design. It’s about designers and not about brands. There are French luxury brands and historic denim brands. Diesel is moving from pure denim to designer denim. I also have my own brand. Europeans add things like Swarovski. They do strong washing.

Asia is focused on vintage. Asia, Europe and the US have a different approach to the denim market. Asia is more focused on tradition, heavy fabrics, non stretch fabrics, classic looks. They use selvedge and rigid ones. This is particularly true of the Japanese market. In Europe they think of the value of the brand and value of the design. America is focused on beauty, super stretch.

In future denim and jeans will be back to their roots. Fabrics will be heavy and not super stretch. We will have real denim made on a shuttle loom, even selvedge. New technology will be applied on denim. Stretch will be on the warp and not the weft to guarantee comfort. The look will be of real jeans. I am talking of 13 or 14 ounce. Jeans will reflect a more mature concept of fashion. We are going back to a very nice time for our market.