Jeansland Podcast

Jeansland

This is why I do this. Jeansland is a podcast about the ecosystem in which jeans live. There are an estimated 26 million cotton farmers around the world, and about 25% of their production goes into jeans, which could mean 6.2 million farmers depend on denim. I read estimates that at least 1 million people work in retail selling jeans, and another 1.5 to 2 million sew them. And then there are all the label producers, pattern makers, laundries, chemical companies, machinery producers, and those that work in denim mills. I mean, the jeans industry, which is bigger than the global movie and music business combined, employs a lot of human beings. And many of them, like me, love jeans. The French philosopher and existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, when visiting New York, said, "Everyone in the New York subway is a novel." I never met her, but I guess she made the observation because of the incredible diversity of people who ride the subway system. I'm convinced the people in our jeans industry are like those in the subway. They are unique, with rich and complex stories to tell, and I want to hear them. And deep inside me, I think you might feel the same way. https://jeansland.co/

  1. Ep 70—FRESH BLOOD Revisited: A New Generation of Mills with Lucille Ix and Lucas Van de Woestyne

    1d ago

    Ep 70—FRESH BLOOD Revisited: A New Generation of Mills with Lucille Ix and Lucas Van de Woestyne

    Before we continue with the next episodes in the FRESH BLOOD series, we’re revisiting a conversation that helped define what the series is really about: listening to the next generation already working inside the industry. Andrew speaks with Lucille Ix and Lucas Van de Woestyne, two young professionals who grew up around fabric manufacturing and are now working inside it themselves. It is a useful reminder that denim is a huge industry, but also a small community, and that its future depends on whether people like them choose to stay. Lucille, 22, is based in New York and works across China and Vietnam. Lucas, 27, is based in Ghent, Belgium and works for a denim mill in China with a focus on Europe. Their families have been in the business for generations, and they have known each other since childhood. Their fathers worked together in denim mills in the United States. We talk about what surprised them when they entered the industry. How denim can be massive in volume but small in practice. How relationships hold over decades, even across competing companies. We also talk about how young people are received at shows, and why many veterans want new people to enter the industry and stay. We get into sustainability in plain terms. What their friends actually care about when they buy clothes. Why quality and longevity are easier for consumers to hold than technical claims. Lucas points to a structural gap: mills are expected to innovate, but brands do not always want to pay for the price of that innovation. We also touch trade and geopolitics, the way duties and tariffs can change decisions overnight, and why being informed is now part of the job. We end on what success looks like to them: community, continuity, and the people behind the product. Thank you to our sponsor Inside Denim. Lucille Ix Marketing & Sales Assistant, Advanced Denim Advanced Denim, LinkedIn, Instagram Luccas Van de Woestyne Marketing Director Europe, Freedom Denim Freedom Denim, LinkedIn Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    42 min
  2. Ep 69: How Denim Gets Its Blue with Paul Cowell

    May 20

    Ep 69: How Denim Gets Its Blue with Paul Cowell

    Paul Cowell taught Andrew a great deal of what he knows about indigo. In Episode 69, Andrew sits down with Paul Cowell, whose career has moved through ICI, BASF, DyStar, BluConnection, and Archroma. His work sits at the intersection of chemistry, denim processing, mills, brands, and the commercial reality of making innovation work at scale. The conversation begins with chemistry. How synthetic dye development shaped modern textiles. How indigo works. Why pre-reduced indigo changed denim dyeing. And why the fact that most synthetic indigo still comes from China should concern anyone who depends on blue jeans. From there, they get into the strange logic of denim itself. A dye with poor affinity for cotton. A process built around reduction, oxidation, dipping, skying, washing down, and removing much of what was just put on. Inefficient, complicated, and still one of the most beloved systems in apparel. They also talk about bioengineered indigo, the real barriers to cleaner chemistry, and why sustainability in textiles is never just about one product or one claim. It is about clean chemistry, efficient manufacturing, durability, regulation, and whether the industry is willing to pay for better systems. There is a bigger question underneath it all: what happens when the future of fashion depends not only on fiber, fabric, and design, but on the chemistry most consumers never see? This episode is really about indigo, and the complicated system built around making denim blue. Thank you to our sponsor Inside Denim. Paul Cowell Global Textile Chemistry & Marketing Strategist, Paul Cowell Consultancy LinkedIn Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    53 min
  3. Ep 68: The Rise of Resale

    May 13

    Ep 68: The Rise of Resale

    In Episode 68’s Andrew’s Take, he looks at the rise of secondhand clothing. Not as a side story in fashion, but as one of the fastest-growing parts of the global apparel business. Secondhand clothing is now growing dramatically faster than traditional apparel retail. In some cases, three or four times faster. And younger consumers are beginning to ask the question the industry never really wanted them to ask: why buy new at all? He breaks down the numbers behind resale growth in the U.S., Europe, and globally, and why the shift matters not just economically, but structurally. At the center of it all is a larger contradiction. An industry built on perpetual production now colliding with consumers increasingly comfortable buying what already exists. Thank you to our sponsor Inside Denim. Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    5 min
  4. Ep 67—FRESH BLOOD, Part 6: Rebuilding Local Manufacturing with Justin Bastarache

    May 6

    Ep 67—FRESH BLOOD, Part 6: Rebuilding Local Manufacturing with Justin Bastarache

    FRESH BLOOD continues with Part 6, featuring Justin Bastarache, Founder of Whelk and Pipo Canada. Justin started with a sustainable headwear brand, then found the larger problem: almost nobody was making caps in Eastern Canada anymore. So he began building the factory himself. Andrew and Justin talk about what it takes to make locally in a category dominated by imports. Labor, pricing, training, minimums, lead times, and why “Made in Canada” can matter more clearly than another sustainability claim. They also get into his biodegradable brim, the limits of competing on price, and the reality of building a small factory from the ground up. This is a conversation about local manufacturing, practical sustainability, and creating capacity where it had almost disappeared. Thank you to our sponsor Inside Denim. Justin Bastarache Founder of Whelk and Pipo Canada Whelk, Pipo Canada, LinkedIn Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    33 min
  5. Ep 66: The Missing Denim Boom

    Apr 29

    Ep 66: The Missing Denim Boom

    Growth in denim follows a pattern. In Episode 66’s Andrew’s Take, he looks at what has actually driven expansion in the jeans business over time, and why it’s stalled. Every real boom came from a shift in the product itself. New machinery, new yarns, new fits, new finishes. Changes that made people stop wearing what they had and buy something new. That hasn’t happened in a while.   The industry has become more efficient, more technical, more optimized. But it’s also become more predictable. Now all we talk about is how jeans are made, not why anyone wants them. A short look at where growth really comes from, and what’s missing now. Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    6 min
  6. Ep 65—FRESH BLOOD, Part 5: From Volume to Value with Saifullah Minhas

    Apr 22

    Ep 65—FRESH BLOOD, Part 5: From Volume to Value with Saifullah Minhas

    FRESH BLOOD is about renewal. Every industry either regenerates itself or slowly hardens. In this Jeansland series, Andrew steps back to listen to the next generation already working inside denim’s supply chain, upstream in fibers, sourcing platforms, laundries, and raw materials. In Part 5 of the series, Andrew sits down with Saifullah Minhas, Director of Sales and Marketing at Delta Garments, a third-generation family-owned factory based in Lahore, Pakistan. His family business, built out of collapse, reinvention, and persistence, exports denim and twill apparel to the UK, EU, and US. From there, the discussion moves through the realities of running a factory today. What happens when a business becomes too dependent on a single customer. How COVID forced a reset from volume-driven production to product-driven thinking. And why shifting a factory’s mindset can be harder than changing its machinery.   They also get into where value is actually created. The pressure to undercut versus the decision to build something more complex. The gap between fabric capability and finished product. And why Pakistan, despite its strength in raw materials, still struggles to define a clear product identity. There is a broader layer underneath it all. Sustainability, and where it breaks down. Not in effort, but in measurement, incentives, and accountability across the system. What can be controlled at the factory level. And what cannot. At its core, this is about direction. About ownership. And about what it takes to move from filling capacity to building something that lasts. Thank you to our sponsor Inside Denim. Saifullah Minhas Director Sales and Marketing, Delta Garments Delta Garments, Delta's LinkedIn, Saifullah's LinkedIn Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    48 min
  7. Ep 64: The Hidden Cost of War

    Apr 15

    Ep 64: The Hidden Cost of War

    The war doesn't show up where you think it does. In Episode 64's Andrew's Take, he looks at the war in Iran, not politically, but through the lens of the jeans industry. Orders were booked months ago. Prices were locked when oil was lower, freight was cheaper, and currencies were more stable. None of that is true anymore. Factories across Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam are absorbing the difference. They didn't start the war. Their countries aren't fighting it. But between energy costs, freight surcharges, chemical pricing, and weakening currencies, the margin on a finished garment simply disappears. The contract is fixed. The cost is not. Andrew breaks down exactly where that gap shows up, and who carries it. Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    4 min
  8. Ep 63—FRESH BLOOD, Part 4: Bridging Design and Production with Hayato Nishi

    Apr 8

    Ep 63—FRESH BLOOD, Part 4: Bridging Design and Production with Hayato Nishi

    FRESH BLOOD is about renewal. Every industry either regenerates itself or slowly hardens. In this Jeansland series, Andrew steps back to listen to the next generation already working inside denim’s supply chain, upstream in fibers, sourcing platforms, laundries, and raw materials. In Part 4 of the series, Andrew sits down with Hayato Nishi, a second-generation industry professional whose path into denim and textiles didn’t start with product, but with perspective. Shaped by a global upbringing, Hayato came into fashion first as a consumer, then as a builder. From there, the conversation traces his path through the industry. From early streetwear projects in Boston to building community-driven retail concepts. From there into Shima Seiki, working at the forefront of whole garment 3D knitting technology, and eventually into Lenzing, where he now works closely with brands on fiber strategy and material decisions. Along the way, they get into what actually gets lost in the process. The gap between design and manufacturing. The disappearance of product knowledge as production moved offshore. And why even the most advanced technologies still depend on people who understand how things are made. They also talk about what drives decisions today. Design first. Price second. Materials after that. A reality that complicates the conversation around sustainability, even as the industry tries to move in that direction. There’s also a broader shift underneath it all. New tools, new systems, new ways of working. But not always used in the right way. Especially when it comes to AI, where the real opportunity may not be replacing creativity, but connecting design to production in a way the industry hasn’t solved yet. At its core, this is a discussion about learning. About staying open. And about what it takes to build a point of view in an industry that’s constantly changing. Thank you to our sponsor Inside Denim. Hayato Nishi Head of Key Accounts Business Development East Coast USA & Canada, Lenzing TENCEL: https://tencel.com/ Lenzing Fibers: https://lenzing.com/ Nishi &: https://www.instagram.com/nishi_and/ Hayato Nishi Designs: https://www.instagram.com/hayato_nishi_designs.jpg Please follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    41 min
See All (70)

5
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

This is why I do this. Jeansland is a podcast about the ecosystem in which jeans live. There are an estimated 26 million cotton farmers around the world, and about 25% of their production goes into jeans, which could mean 6.2 million farmers depend on denim. I read estimates that at least 1 million people work in retail selling jeans, and another 1.5 to 2 million sew them. And then there are all the label producers, pattern makers, laundries, chemical companies, machinery producers, and those that work in denim mills. I mean, the jeans industry, which is bigger than the global movie and music business combined, employs a lot of human beings. And many of them, like me, love jeans. The French philosopher and existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, when visiting New York, said, "Everyone in the New York subway is a novel." I never met her, but I guess she made the observation because of the incredible diversity of people who ride the subway system. I'm convinced the people in our jeans industry are like those in the subway. They are unique, with rich and complex stories to tell, and I want to hear them. And deep inside me, I think you might feel the same way. https://jeansland.co/

Information

  • Creator
    Jeansland
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    70
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Jeansland Podcast
  • Show Website
    Jeansland Podcast

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