Denim Workshop At Jean School Amsterdam
This week I gave my first denim workshop of this year for the students of the Jean School in Amsterdam. In 2012, the doors of the first and only Jean School in the world opened in Amsterdam. Jean School is a very unique education where young, creative and driven people will learn the craftsmanship of denim design and development. I’m fortunate to give every now and than some workshops for the students to share my passion and knowledge about denim. I also had the honor to gave an introduction workshop during the opening of the Jean School at the first day in 2012. Together with Alex Jaspers, denim master of Scotch & Soda, and Menno van Meurs, owner of the Tenue de Nimes store in Amsterdam we were asked to kick-off the Jean School. (Read more about it here.) Since than every now and then I’m lucky to educate the students.
Take a look at the recap video of the first day at Jean School in 2012.
The First Denim Workshop For 2018 At Jean School
My first denim workshop of the year was for the 3rd year students of the Jean School and International textile students from New York’s education Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). The topic of the denim workshop was about how a pair of miners pants became such an popular fashion icon. Through a timeline with all the most important highlights from the denim history I shared my knowledge and showed the evolution of denim. For workshops I always use my huge denim archive which is loaded with interesting, rare and important pieces to make it more attractive. These vintage denim and workwear pieces are a perfect tool to tell the stories behind the details, make links to newer designs and collections from brands and to show the beauty of these rare and worn pieces.
The denim workshop was given at Denim City, which is located at De Hallen in Amsterdam. Denim City is located at an old tramworks in Amsterdam-West and is the home for a group of companies and organisations collaborating under the name Denim City HQ. Its a global meeting point for denim education, research and enterprise, specifically aimed at innovation and sustainability.
The duration of the denim workshops was around 1.5 hours in total. As always it was a true pleasure to educate the students with the history of denim and sharing my passion of the blue gold.
Impression shots of the denim workshop at Denim City.
Denim Knowledge is King
Denim knowledge is key nowadays. The more knowledge people will have the better they will act. You can use denim knowledge in your sales talk in your store, for example to open an conversation or to make your salestalk more valuable or interesting. This makes your store more special and people will feel that they’re in the right store where people knows what they’re selling and talking about.
But the denim workshops are also good for people who’re working for a (denim) brand as a sales representive, designer or on marketing postitions. This to make them enthousiastic (again), give them new input, and to give them tools to act better in their daily work. Remember, knowledge is king!
Take also a look at my previous denim workshops here and here. Previous workshops posts will show that they can be given at any location.
If you also want to educate your (denim) employees with more knowledge about denim, please feel free to send me an email with the possibilities to: wouter@long-john.nl
