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Q&A:

Fugitive Denimauthor Rachel Louise Snyder

Del Fortes

Sustainable Style

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JANUARY 2008 CALIFORNIA APPAREL NEWS / DENIM 3

world

BY CHRISTIAN CHENSVOLD

CAN: Why did you choose to focus on denim specifically?

RLS: I chose jeans because everyone can identify with them. Theyre socialistic clothing, if you

will: They cross party, gender, economic, and cultural lines. And theyre cool.

CAN: Did the bookand the denim industryturn out to be initially what you thought itwould be?

RLS: In a lot of ways, no, not at all. First off, I knew nothing about fashion, so that was allnew to me. And I also knew very little about global trade. I knew that globalization affected allof us, but I didnt know in what ways. I was also relatively anti-corporate, and the corporationsI spoke with, by and large, did seem like they were trying to implement fair conditions. So I had

to rethink my initial political thoughts, and I was proven wrong time and again. And I think youknow youre doing a good job when you prove yourself wrong.

CAN: What are the main themes we take from your book?

RLS: Globalization is so often talked about in these large, grandiose ways, and yet what Iwould call the most important issue in globalization is the individual human struggle that comesout of it. And sometimes that struggle results in a great big payoff, and sometimes it only leadsto more struggle.

Continued on page 4

In Fugitive Denim,author Rachel Louise

Snyder takes a close

look at globalization

and the jeans industry

Every pair of jeans has a story to tell. From how they were acquired

fresh on the shelves or vintage store?to the adventures each owner has

taken them on.

Rachel Louise Snyder is interested in the backstory, what happened to

jeans before they found their happy owners.

In Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Border-

less World of Global Trade, Snyder shows the lives, from designer to

Third World garment worker, behind the demographics-shattering fabric

of denim.

Two and a half years in the making, Fugitive Denim is the first book

by Snyder, a journalist whose work has appeared in TheNew York Times

Magazine and who spends much of her time living in Phnom Pehn,

Cambodia.

The California Apparel Newscaught up with Snyder on the West Coast

leg of her book tour, and talked about jeans, globalization, and the com-

plex moral issues that come with foreign labor.

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4 CALIFORNIA APPAREL NEWS / DENIM JANUARY 2008

So I wanted to tell the story of globalization in these really intimate, detailedportraits of individual lives. And theres a direct link between all of us and thethings we touch in our daily lives.

CAN: Because goods are made overseas and brought into the United States?RLS: Yes, the supply chain. And the supply chain is people.CAN: To play devils advocate, should the American consumer really be

concerned with how goods are made? Is it a moral issue?RLS:

Absolutely. In this country weve eradicated child labor for a very good rea-son: We felt it was morally abhorrent. And we eradicated sweatshops for the same

reason, and that led to the union movement in the early 20th century. So we haveas a society decided its wrong for us. And if its wrong for us, it certainly should bewrong for the things we purchase.

CAN: But at what point is it imposing Western values on other cultures? Obvi-ously we think we know better than them, that they should not be employing

children. But then there could be other issues that have to do with the way thingsare in cultures that arent as advanced as ussuch as with womens rights, forexample. When is it imposing our values, and when is it helping them to have abetter society?

RLS: There are a lot of things you could point to where I think that debatewould have merit, but when youre talking about health, safety, and basic rights toeducation, I dont think theres anything particularly cultural about that. I live in a

foreign culture, and we have those kinds of debates in much more in-depth waysthan anybody in this country probably experiences. Youre talking about peoplewho are working 16-hour days, not 10. Quality of life is not cultural.

CAN: At what point does it become the responsibility of an apparel company

and the consumer, since foreign working conditions are presumably largely

controlled by local subcontractors? Or are the U.S. companies in fact essentiallyforcing foreign workers to work those kinds of hours?

RLS: I think its more complicated than that, because theres another factor inthere: local governments. First of all, most manufacturers that I talked to talkedabout being under pressure from the brands. Youre not going to find a brand thatgoes in and says, I insist that you work 80 hours per week. But you are going

to find a brand that says, I insist that you have these 50,000 pairs of jeans madeby the end of the month.

So theres that kind of pressure, and theres also laws that are not enforcedby local governments. And corporate brands do have some pull in other cultures

to be able to say, These are the conditions in which we want people to work,regardless of what the local government says. So The Gap might say, No morethan 60 hours per week.

CAN: What is the dark side of globalization?RLS: I think we already know: loss of jobs, terrible working conditions...

CAN: You mean loss of American jobs?RLS: Sure, although also just a general loss of jobs to technology. China loses

about a million jobs per year to technology.When you read the book, you see that I tried very hard not to come down on

one side of the issue, because I was really trying to just portray what it meant inpeoples lives. Globalization means a little bit of good, and a little bit of bad.

I feel like the debate on whether globalization is good or bad is somewhatbeyond the point. Its here. The point is to make it better.

CAN: And what is the bright side of it?

RLS: In Cambodia, garment workers are the rising middle class, and thats agood thing.CAN: So the bright side is that developing nations get money pumped into

their economies, which is better than no work.

RLS: Well, possibly. Is making $30 a month better than having some auton-omy? I dont know. I think individuals would have different answers. But certainlythe garment workers of Cambodia are leading better lives than they were 10 yearsago.

CAN: How do you balance the desire to keep jobs in the United States with ourobligation to help developing nations? Which is more progressive, giving work toa country like Bangladesh, or bragging that your jeans are made in America?

RLS:

I think different things are important to different people. For some people,made in the U.S. is very important. For someone like me, the condition in whichjeans are made is much more important than the country in which theyre made.Some people care more about dyeing and environmental issues. So I wouldnt call

one approach more enlightened than the other.

CAN: Why did you decide to focus on the cotton industry in Azerbaijan?

RLS: First of all, cotton is the second-biggest export, after oil. And yet its thislittle blip in the world. Same with Cambodia: Garments are 85 percent of their

exports, and yet its a blip.Azerbaijan has a really interesting tension between the older generation that

bemoans the loss of the Soviet Union and wants to go back to a time when theydidnt have to pay for their electricity and rent, and the younger generation that

sees capitalism as a great opportunity. Also, Azerbaijan is trying so hard to enterthe global economy but doesnt necessarily understand the requirements.

CAN: Whats your take on China?

RLS: I think what a lot of people dont know is that as China gets more edu-cated, its getting more difficult to fill low-way positions. The factories I visitedin China all talked about how hard it is to get workers these days, and how they

have to give so many more incentives. This is good for the workers, but theresalso a lot of protesting in China about working conditions, which we dont reallyhear about so much. Labor is getting really expensive, about double what it is inCambodia right now. So China isnt going to be the cheapest place to manufac-

ture forever.

CAN: How did the premium-jeans craze fit into your book?

RLS: In many ways only peripherally. Would I spend $180 on jeans? I would

if I knew they were made with organic cotton, good environmental control, anddecent working conditions. But I think the more important question to ask, whenpeople ask me where to shop, is whether or not were shopping in a way thatis sustainable in the world. So if $180 jeans makes you buy fewer pairs, I think

thats a positive thing.The average American woman owns eight pairs of jeans. Thats more than

there are days in the week. Its crazy to own that much.

CAN: But when you mention buying $180 jeans, you mention factors consum-

ers may not care about. Organic cotton is one thing, but how the jeans wereproduceddesigners and consumers would say the reason the jeans are $180is for style and quality reasons. Youre paying for fashion, not a workers livingwage.

RLS: Thats probably true, but that doesnt mean I agree with it.The demand for organic cotton grows by over 400 percent per year. The same

way that we began to be concerned about how our food was produced, I think

theres a burgeoning movement with clothing as well.

CAN: Is organic cotton the answer? Or at least an answer? Is it better for theworld?

RLS: Sure, I think its better for the world. Its not perfect: You need more

I think different things are important to different people.

For some people, made in the U.S. is very important. For

someone like me, the condition in which jeans are made is much

more important than the country in which theyre made.

Continued from page 3

Continued on page 6

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land and more water, but do I think its better than a quarter of the worlds

pesticides? Sure.

CAN: What do you make of this green trend? If good comes of it, then its

certainly a good trend.

RLS: I agree. If you want to be cynical and say its horrible that Wal-Mart is

going green, okay, but thats not me. I think Wal-Mart reaches a lot of people

that the green movement wouldnt otherwise reach, and if they do an imper-

fect job, at least theyre doing something.

Obviously Im for environmental control. I think its difficult, however, to

enforce things. Ive heard of factories in developing countries that have all the

environmental controls in place, and then once the monitors leave they turn

them all off because its cheaper.

Were in a desperate situation environmentally, so we need to do whatever

we can.

CAN: What would you like the apparel industry to take from your book?

What are the lessons they should learn, or the issues they should be informed

about?

RLS: Thats a good question, but my answer may be disappointingly simple.

I would want them to extrapolate their own work in the global supply chain

into those individual lives. I would want them to think there are 30 million

more like the people in my book. To think of individual lives in the things

theyre asking of factories, for example, which run all the way down this fun-

nel to an individual life.

CAN: What do you make of this fabric, that has broken down the few

remaining dress-code barriers and really become the fabric of our lives?

RLS: Jeans are so adaptable, and people are so unbelievably passionate

about them. There are people in the world who see jeans as poetry, and there

arent many garments or fabrics that can be put in that category.

CAN: How many pairs of jeans do you own?

RLS: I get asked that question in every interview. One, but now that Im

pregnant, two.



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Del Forte previously designed for a few

companies she calls specializers in fast andcheap fashion. Del Forte wanted to apply

what shed learned of the apparel business,

and also wanted to do something eco-friendly.

I took a good, hard look at the entire produc-

tion process in making a pair of jeans, she

says. The first step was looking at conven-

tional cotton, which is a really dirty industry.

I saw this one step I could take [using organic

cotton] that would make a significant positive

impact.

When you care about the environment

and social issues, Del Forte continues, its a

little hard to be involved in fashion because

those kinds of things get trampled a lot. A

large part of fashion is who can get stuff into

stores the fastest and cheapest. If the envi-

ronment or people making the stuff arent

respectedthat hasnt been talked about until

the past couple of years.

By going organic and manufacturing in

the United States, Del Forte thought she could

both help out the environment and ensure

good working conditions.

Organic cotton farming does not utilize

pesticides, so there is no chemical runoff into

the soil and water supply. Once you start

using chemical pesticides, your soil is less fer-tile and you need to use chemical fertilizer,

says Del Forte. Not only is organic farming

not harmful, it actually regenerates soil thats

been damaged from pesticide use.

Moreover, manufacturing domestically

would provide U.S. jobs and reduce her lines

carbon footprint. Those things followed from

this one light-bulb moment of If I use organic

instead of conventional cotton, my jeans are

going to be a lot cleaner than whats on the

market right now.

In 2005, she says, only she and Loom-

state were working exclusively in organic

denim. That has certainly changed, with many

standard denim lines now offering organic

alternatives as part of their collections. Del

Forte sees both pros and cons of the bur-

geoning green movement. I do think theres

going to be a lot of competition, but you cant

be in the fashion industry and not deal with

competition, she says. And basically I want

more organic cotton grown in the world. The

more demand there is, that makes it a viable

industry for the farmers. And I think consumer

education is good for all of us.

naturalWonder

A Fitting Challenge

While Del Forte admits being jealous

of the financial resources of big com-

panies that are now rolling out organic

products, Del Forte is thrilled that

green is catching on in the public eye.

However, she admits that organic fabric

is still primarily an added value to the

consumer, not a motive for purchase.

Premium-denim consumers are still shop-

ping overwhelmingly for fit, styling, and

quality. In that sense, going organic is

more of a personal vision for Del Forte

than something with intrinsic value in the

marketplace.

From a fashion perspective, Del

Forte is steering away from basics to con-

centrate on interesting silhouettes and

styling. She is doing well with wide legs

and higher rises, because you dont have

to be skinny to look great in them.

And Del Forte takes the concept of

sustainable to her designs as well as man-

ufacturing process. I think our strength

lies in having really good designs that

arent too over-the-top or trendy that

theyre only good for one season, she

says. To me thats another part of being

sustainablecreating things that peo-

ple are going to buy and then keep for

years.

And its also a point of pride, she

adds, because you dont want to design

something that people are going to toss to

the back of their closet after a season.

For example, Del Fortes current best-

seller is the Willow Trouser, a high-rise,

wide-legged jean in a simple rinse-wash

that requires no chemicals. While its

sort of a vaguely 70s silhouette, it doesnt

look like youre going to a 70s-themed

party. People are wearing it with their

top tucked in and belted, but it also looks

great under blousy tops. It makes every-

one look tall and skinny, and thats not

going to go out of style.

In the future, Del Forte wants to

make organic denim more accessible to

consumers. Were at a high price point

and are only reaching a small segment

of the market, she says. Id like more

people to be able to make the choice to

buy organic.


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JANUARY 2008 CALIFORNIA APPAREL NEWS / DENIM 11

Denim Resource GuideDL1961 is a premium-denim brand createdusing 4-way stretch denim made withInvistasneweststretchinnova-tion XFITLYCRA.The pat-entedcross-weavetechnol-ogy ofXFIT LYCRA offers 360-degree stretch forsuperior fit that resists sagging and bagging,provides excellent shape retention, and givesa flattering, forgiving look. Theres 90 per-cent less pressure at the knees, hips, crotch,and behind with XFIT LYCRA fabric versusrigid alternatives. Consumer research showsthat the top two purchase criteria for jeansare fit and comfort. Women want to feel goodin quality clothes that fitclothes that movewith them without pulling in all the wrongplaces. Visit www.DL1961.com.

Turkish denim producer ISKO presents itsSpring/Summer 2009 collections. The char-acter and flaws of vintage denim inspire theShade & Construction line, which offers newdirections in mid-tones and pales. Fashion-forward fabrics made of luxurious fibers andweaves offer exceptional softness, drape, andsheen in the Luxury line. Stretch maintainsits popularity for ease of movement, comfort,softness, and drape in a variety of specialfinishes. Environmentally friendly denimincludes the Organic and Organic+ lines, thelatter of which has the natural feel and lookof organic cotton differentiated by hemp,paper, soya, and lenpur yarns. Both offerunique colors and constructions. Visitwww.isko.com.tr.

Fast-growing contemporary denim brand

Plush Premium Denim is attracting the atten-tion ofsuch A-listcelebritiesas NicoleKidmanand Cam-eron Diazas well astop musicartistsThe Pussycat Dolls and Avril Lavigne.For summer 2007, Plush successfullylaunched its unique premium mensdenim collection Evolushion III and most

recently announced a collaboration withthe Lovethelife brand on a limited editionwomens and mens jean for Spring 2008shipping. Lovethislife is another celebrityfavorite adorning Madonna, Angelina Jolie,Mark Wahlberg, and Eric Clapton. AndrewLee, formally of 575 and Blue Holdings, hasjoined the company as President of Sales.

PrivacyWeardenim has afit and qual-ity superiorto manybrands.However,Privacy-Wears heartlies with itsmission. Aspart ofthe Pri-vacyWear business model, a percentage ofits annual revenues fund mammograms forunderprivileged women, and provide opportu-nities for increased awareness through breastcancer education and research programs.PrivacyWear is a movement that truly adds aphilanthropic appeal to consumer spending.When our family of consumers purchases thePrivacy Collection, they are announcing theirCommitment to the Cure to battle breastcancer.

Sang Real debuted at the August 2007 editionof WWDMAGIC. Despite the general downwardtrend in denim, the line was very well receivedand reorders continue to stream in. SangReal is currently found in over 450 doorsnationwide with new retailers picking up theline almost daily. Suggested retail prices are$74$78. The jeans line exhibits high-qualityfabrics, fine detailing, innovative design, andexudes premium-denim qualities. Sang Real

is pioneering the Rock n Roll movement indenim at a price point never before exploredby this genre of jeans. Sang RealOnly TheChosen.

This listing is provided as a free serviceto our advertisers. We regret that wecannot be responsible for any errors oromissions within the Denim ResourceGuide.

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HEADQUARTERS

ISKO DOKUMA ISLETMELERISAN. VE TIC. A.S.Organize San. Bolgesi 3. Cadde16400 Inegl, BursaTURKEYPhone:+90 224 280 [email protected]

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