With a business degree under his belt and a background in marketing, Thomas Stege Bojer didn’t exactly expect to get sucked into the denim industry. But after taking a part-time job at a clothing store in his early twenties, he couldn’t help but fall in love with the jeans he was selling. So, he did what any true marketer would do: launch a blog to document his growing passion for raw denim and the industry as a whole.

Within a few short years, Denimhunters became an international destination for denim devotees, where they could stay up-to-date on new collaborations and collections; read interviews with designers, brand owners and indigo influencers—plus deepen their knowledge of denim’s storied history.

“I just did it for fun. There was no business to it for the first three years,” Bojer said. “I got a few ad sponsorships here and there, but it was just paying the bills to keep me running and traveling a little bit.”

But it was doing more than that: Thanks to his in-depth learnings and the contacts he made in the industry, Denimhunters attracted the attention of denim brands around the world, who hired Bojer as a marketing consultant to keep them relevant and help them grow their businesses.

It also caught the eye of niche publishing house Gestalten, which approached Bojer in 2015 with the idea of writing a book. Published in May 2016, Blue Blooded: Denim Hunters and Jeans Culture was co-written and edited by Bojer and British journalist Josh Sims. The book features profiles of groundbreaking denim designers, along with an in-depth look at both the history of denim and today’s blossoming denim culture.

Inspired to share the knowledge he gained while writing Blue Blooded, Bojer launched Denimhunters Academy, an online education and staff-training platform that helps retail professionals learn how to create meaningful experiences for their customers through product knowledge and storytelling.

His paid “Denim 101” course is a deep dive into everything from the history of denim to how jeans are made, and the Academy also offers mini email courses on how to sell jeans and help customers find the right fit. “People come to me with questions all the time,” Bojer said. “So I figured, why not do something professional?”

Bojer plans to offer even more educational materials and training videos in the future, too, while also focusing on the Denimhunters blog and his freelance consulting business. “I wouldn’t have any of these jobs if I hadn’t done the blog and the book,” he said of his success in the industry. “I guess I could stop now, but I think it’s still important to stay up to date.”