When Tencel’s Carved in Blue team launched the Blue Lenz YouTube channel in January 2020 just months before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, it likely didn’t realize just how timely its video-centric initiative would become.
The fiber company’s denim education platform developed the channel in response to the increasing amount of video content being created and published by the denim industry—content that the company considered to be “engaging and captivating,” but ultimately wasted, as the content was difficult to find after the season concluded.
The Blue Lenz YouTube channel now complements the promotional videos and webinars that companies were forced to create as a result of global lockdowns, which shifted global, in-person conferences to digital Zoom presentations. The channel serves as a central location for mills and brands to share their video messages relating to denim stories, educational videos, sustainability news, fabric innovations and trends.
And now, with close to 300 videos uploaded to the channel, Tencel is holding its first video awards competition in collaboration with Bluezone at Munich Fabric Start when it returns in-person later this month.
“The Blue Lenz denim video awards highlights not only the creativity of product, but also the ways in which we adapted our communication over the past 18 months to highlight new innovations, collections and the conversations shaping the denim market,” said Tricia Carey, director of global business development—denim, Lenzing. “Bluezone at Munich Fabric Start provides a wonderful venue and opportunity to finally meet in person to celebrate the resilience and transformation of the global denim industry.”
On Aug. 31 at the Munich trade show, Bluezone, Tencel will honor the best videos spanning categories related to most educational, best design, honorable mention and more. Winners will be determined by a panel of judges including Margherita Verlicchi, copywriter at Menabo; Michelle Branch, founder of Markt & Twigs; Wouter Munnichs, founder of Long John Denim; Neha Celly, founder of nece gene; Erin Barajas, co-founder of Interesting Monsters; Panos Sofianos, denim innovation curator at Bluezone; and Kelly Harrington, founder of Trademark Blue.
The nominees are:
Best Educational Video/Series nominees: Transformers Ed Series by Transformers Foundation; Cone Denim’s Did You Know Denim Series; Royal College of Art x Kaihaha – 5 Year Anniversary Zoom; Sue Barrett’s Lockdown Nostalgia Project; and Mohsin Sajid’s Hemp History.
Best Denim Design/Collection nominees: Crescent Bahuman Ltd x Miles Johnson – Now or Never; Cone Denim x Miles Johnson x Tonello – The Very Best of Times; Endrime x Artistic Milliners Tailoring Collection; and Hiut x Hewitt – British Denim.
Best Sustainability nominees: Connection to SDG nominees include True Cost of Apparel Industry by BBC/Mostafiz Uddin; Artistic Fabric Mills’s Tracing the Lifecycle of a Jean – SDG 12; Tonello x Ian Berry – Secret Garden @ San Francisco Flower Market; Jeanologia’s Handman – The Revival of Jeans Manufacturing; and Artistic Milliners’s Organic Cotton in Pakistan.
Best Host/Webinar series nominees: Sustainable Denim by Matt Wilson; Naveena Denim’s Jeanerosity Series; Amy Leverton’s Denim Dudes Presents: Denim & Segregation Webinar; and Fashion Revolution, Fashion Open Studio & Isko Present: The Future of Denim Panel.
Best Art Direction nominees: AGI Denim’s company profile; Kelly Harrington’s Trademark Blue x Coralie Marabelle x Isko; An Indigo Story by Vivian Wang; Orta’s The New Denim Route; Soorty ’s Climate Jean Campaign; and Orta Anadolu’s Gen H.
Best Animation nominees: Calik’s Dyepro Zero Water & No Chemical Waste; Coreva Technology – Developed and Patented by Candiani; Global Denim’s Cotton Leads; and Fabrics with Origin by Santanderina.
Best Overall Video nominees: CBL x Miles Johnson – Now or Never; Cone Denim x Miles Johnson x Tonello – The Very Best of Times; Azgard 9 CO2AT Case; and Endrime x Artistic Milliners Tailoring Collection.