Amsterdam denim hot spot, Tenue de Nîmes, will cap off its 10th anniversary celebrations with a collaboration with Levi’s Vintage Clothing.
The collaboration is based on a pair of 501 jeans Tenue de Nîmes founder Menno van Meurs found in a vintage store during a 2015 visit to Levi’s Eureka Lab in San Francisco. “These jeans are like a piece of art,” he wrote on a blog post on the Tenue de Nîmes website. “What makes art interesting to me is when it can’t be captured at first glance. Each time I looked at the jeans, I discovered new details, which is why I consider it a phenomenal find.”
The replicas mimic the original’s repairs and orange paint splatters. The collaboration is limited to 75 hand-numbered pieces and will be packaged in a special anniversary box. The collection will be released Friday at the Elandsgracht 60 store in Amsterdam.
This is the first brand collaboration for Levi’s Vintage Clothing. The line focuses on historically accurate recreations from Levi’s archive.
“It was a challenge to reproduce these 1970s 501 Originals with so much repair and paint details but we’re very happy with the results,” said Paul O’Neill, Levi’s Vintage Clothing senior designer.
Tenue de Nîmes has been celebrating its 10-year milestone with a series of small-quantity, co-branded collaborations. The series began in September 2018 with a storm jacket by outerwear brand Hansen. A collaboration with Japanese denim brand Momotaro, maritime-inspired apparel brand Armor Lux and Red Wing shoes followed. Tenue de Nîmes also created blankets with Swedish label Indigofera and chambray sneakers with Vans.
A soon-to-be-released collaboration with Los Angeles-based brand Agolde is also in the works.
