Jason Denham, the man who was jointly responsible for the Blue Blood success, has started his own denim label. The brand is appropriately called 'Denham' and will be officially launched in December with the opening of Denham's own shop in Amsterdam. The new brand has been set up within a very short period of time. Denham left Blue Blood in December last year, set out on a trip and decided that the time was right for his own brand in February. The first collection was finished in June. "I want to set up a fashion house for denim," Denham says about his new company. The basis of that house is the jeans collection which Denham has collected over the course of time, as well as his extensive private archive. The first collection, due in the summer of 2009, has been inspired by a pattern book from 1910 and the models have been named after the techniques which are described in that book - The Cutters - including 'Cutter', 'Dart', 'Tape' and 'Tailor'. The production will be done in Japan and Italy by the jeans manufacturer Hiro. The key words are quality and originality. "It is a passion", Denham explains. The brand's subtitle is 'The Jeanmaker', with a pair of scissors as its logo. "The scissors I used to cut my very first pair of jeans 17 years ago."
The first collection, which will be delivered in December, has not yet been presented at any trade fairs, but it has already enjoyed some small scale sales in the Netherlands (Spoiled), Germany (14oz) and the United Kingdom (Harvey Nichols). Retail prices start at 150 euro and can run up to 500 euro. Denham will be introduced at the Bread&Butter fashion trade fair in Barcelona in January. The collection will be expanded into a complete clothing collection for ladies and gents before this launch, with tops, jumpers and coats in addition to the jeans.
The premises in Amsterdam, from which Denham's own shop will be launched in December, will also be home to the new brand's head office and showroom. "I want everything to happen in the same place, so customers can also gain some first hand knowledge of how we work. It will be a unique experience." www.denhamthejeanmaker.com
Foto: Denham website