DENIM GUIDE || AG Denim
AG Jeans is a premium denim house leading the sustainable manufacturing movement with innovative technology and eco-minded processes.
In 2000, two powerhouses of the denim industry brought their visions together and founded AG Jeans in Los Angeles, California. Nicknamed the “Godfather of Denim,” Adriano Goldschmied established a legacy that was instantly recognised for its ingenious washes and designs, laying the groundwork for AG’s rise in popularity as the leader of premium denim.
“In the end, denim has a soul and that’s what I love about it.”
– Adriano Goldschmied
Concurrently, the manufacturing phenom, Yul Ku, was pushing for drastic innovations in sustainable production while establishing AG as the first vertically operated denim manufacturer on the West Coast. AG’s decades of progressive experience have led to industry-wide adoption of environmentally conscious design and construction including Ozone technology, laser finishing, solar energy, and water recycling.
Today, AG Jeans continues on its mission to design product that is authentically rooted in denim, craftsmanship, fit, and fabric innovation. The AG in-house model helps us them pivot alongside the newest mechanisms on the market, keeping their process eco-inspired, transparent in its practice, and radical in its production.
MEET THE MAKER
Q&A with Adriano Goldschmied
MEET THE MAKER
You are known as the “Godfather of Denim” and have been working with denim for a long time now, where does passion come from?
Adriano Goldschmied: I have been in the denim business more then 50 years and I saw the evolutions and revolutions in design and industry. This is probably one of the main reasons why I love this business. There is a continuous improvement from the technical point of view but also in aesthetic. What I love is that denim is not just a design exercise, but it is connected directly with the people, the new lifestyle and the fight for a better and circular industry opening the way to a zero impact business.
In your experience, what would you say makes for a good denim brand today?
Adriano Goldschmied: Good denim brands today have to be able to give a beautiful product and make consumers happy by doing it in the best possible way according to new technologies and innovations.
How does a pair designed by you differ from any other denim brand in the world?
Adriano Goldschmied: Design is about unique creativity. Every creative work is a combination of factors that are making our projects different from any other. I do not have a "signature" that I repeat; everything I do is like designing on a white canvas.
What has been your most satisfying moment in the denim world?
Adriano Goldschmied: When, a long time ago, we found that we could wash and make a finishing on jeans. A new era started.
The one dream in denim that still has you craving for more?
Adriano Goldschmied: I hope that we will change our industry to one with zero impact on the environment.
Colour and denim... your thoughts?
Adriano Goldschmied: The blue is blue. Period
SUSTAINABILITY
AGOODKARMA
At AG, they like to leave everything better than they found it. For a while, their process was simple: cotton gets woven into denim and that denim is hand-crafted into someone’s favorite pair of jeans.
But what if that jean could be even better? What if every jean could be better? This question is what brought AG to the idea of Good Karma — their biggest sustainability effort yet.
Providing a one-time gimmick like an “eco jean” or a one-off capsule collection wasn’t good enough — they wanted to pursue sustainability in a sustainable way. Each and every one of their initiatives is just one component in a long-term approach.
