"The three-day Denim Day event will take place from September 29-October 1, with a one-day speaker series and a two-day shopping event in New York’s Chelsea nabe. Just like the Amsterdam event, the festival will include interactive displays and workshops from brands, designers and denim mills alongside in-store events, a vintage denim market, parties and panels to give consumers access to their denim heroes and brands. Andrew Olah, Kingpins Show Founder and New York Denim Days co-founder, said it should be the greatest days for shopping for jeans of the year."
The three-day Denim Day event will take place from September 29-October 1, with a one-day speaker series and a two-day shopping event in New York’s Chelsea nabe. Just like the Amsterdam event, the festival will include interactive displays and workshops from brands, designers and denim mills alongside in-store events, a vintage denim market, parties and panels to give consumers access to their denim heroes and brands. Andrew Olah, Kingpins Show Founder and New York Denim Days co-founder, said it should be the greatest days for shopping for jeans of the year.
The rundown on the event
The event will start with an invite-only seminar series on first day, Denim Talks, hosted at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre. Fashion and students of denim and the media will have access to great denim minds, including Adriano Goldschmied, Diesel USA CEO Stefano Rosso, 3×1 Founder and CEO Scott Morrison, Not Just a Label Founder and CEO Stefan Siegel and Sanjeev Bahl, the founder and owner of Saitex. The denim festival would continue from September 30 to October 1 with a ticketed event at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea combining a hands-on learning experience with shopping. The event will close with a New York City street festival on 18th Street that will include food trucks, live entertainment, children’s activities and more.
Olah says attendees at the weekend event will see denim weaving, indigo dye techniques, embroidery, chain stitching and more. Leather goods companies, vintage dealers, mills and other key players in the supply chain will set up activations and opportunities to shop and collect knickknacks. Tenue de Nîmes, which famously custom indigo dyes Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers during Amsterdam Denim Days, is rumored to recreate their set up in the Big Apple.
Jean Shop will be displaying rare vintage jeans, selling product and a leather bracelet that shoppers can customize with dye and hand-stamps. The retailer will also indigo dye bandanas to add to the festival’s DIY experience.
Amsterdam Denim Days organisers Modefabriek and Kingpins Show in collaboration with House of Denim and HTNK Fashion recruitment and consultancy are the force behind the New York festival. Organisers began shopping around with the idea of a New York event with US-based brands and retailers last Fall. Since 2014, Amsterdam Denim Days has become a must-attend event for global denim heads. In the last two years, the event has doubled its attendance to 10,000 visitors, drawing consumers, brands and buyers to celebrate and share their passion for denim, innovation and sustainability.
Olah believes a lot more can be achieved through consumer events like Denim Days as he says “We are just scratching the surface. These are the kind of things you need to try. It is the future of our industry, he said, adding that future New York Denim Days will coincide with Kingpins New York, similar to the way Kingpins Amsterdam and Amsterdam Denim Days are scheduled. With the goal to showcase a completely New York perspective on the global denim scene.” Olah believes New York Denim Days will have its own style. While Amsterdam Denim Days appeals to diehard denim aficionados and ‘hipsters’, the New York event will be a festival that anyone who likes a good pair of jeans will enjoy.
