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This week saw the launch of Kingpins24, a two-day online denim conference and event to “bring together” and support the global denim industry. The content is free for attendees, barring its fall 2021 Kingpins Trend forecast. The event took place on April 22 to 23.
The denim industry has been “heavily disrupted” by the coronavirus pandemic — but that shouldn’t stop businesses and brands from sharing ideas, information and inspirations for the fall 2021 season, show organizers said.
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Kingpins24 featured a two-day livestream of exhibitor content (i.e. presentations, sustainability and CSR updates, among other topics) in addition to panels, “casual” conversations, interviews and on-demand content.
Andrew Olah, founder of Kingpins Show, said that “We, as a whole, are resilient, resourceful and optimistic. When one door closes another [door] opens. We believe Kingpins24 can give our global industry a chance to connect and share information. We have no other desire but to be a conduit for the denim world during these difficult times, where most of us, including me, are at home far away from our normal world.”
But, to be clear, Kingpins24 will not take the place of a Kingpins trade show. “Instead, Kingpins organizers will distill the content, energy and point of view that make Kingpins Shows unique and bring that same mind frame and approach to an online event. The goal is for attendees to have an understanding of the denim supply chain’s offerings for the fall 2021 season and much, much more,” according to show organizers.
In other blue news, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a British circular economy charity, in partnership with its Make Fashion Circular initiative, said that its Jeans Redesign project recently expanded with the addition of 17 new participants. The companies signed up for the project in spite of major disruptions throughout the denim and fashion industry due to the coronavirus pandemic, underscoring brands’ steadfast dedication to sustainability and support of a circular economy.
Jeans Redesign launched in July 2019 with an objective to raise the standards for clothing production to create a “new textiles economy”; for jeans, that means meeting minimum requirements for durability, material health, recyclability, traceability and stringent sourcing from ethical mills.
Brands new to the initiative include Balzac Paris; Banana Republic; ICICLE; Organic Basics, Seventy + Mochi; Triarchy; Unspun; Wrangler; Remi Holdings; Tarasima Apparels; Artistic Fabric Mills; Crescent Bahuman; Green Lab; KG Fabriks; Naveena Denim Mills Karachi; Panther Denim; and Tat Fung.
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