Hiut Denim’s backstory has family ties, but it is also about the love that exists for a local community.
Husband and wife duo David and Clare Hieatt founded Hiut Denim to bring denim manufacturing jobs back to their town of Cardigan in Wales. The town’s denim factory, which employed around 400 people and had produced about 35,000 jeans per week, closed down after three decades in 2002. Hiut Denim opened about a decade later in Cardigan, allowing local skilled denim makers to resume doing what they know best. Today, Hiut Denim’s “grand masters” only make 100 pairs of jeans per week, focusing on quality over quantity.
Hiut is not the Hieatts’ first clothing venture as a couple. Prior to founding their denim brand, the pair created eco-friendly clothing label Howies in 1995.
Read more on Carved in Blue.
This article is one of a series on Rivet from Lenzing’s Carved in Blue denim blog. From conversations with the experts behind the mills that make some of the world’s most-wanted denim to the global brands bringing novel denim made with TENCEL™ Lyocell and Modal to the market, Carved in Blue shares the stories of those whose roots run deep with denim. Visit www.carvedinblue.tencel.com.
