NEW YORK (January 29, 2014) Kingpins Amsterdam continues to deepen its connection with the European denim industry with a series of collaborations that spotlight denim education and inspiration.
“We are excited to announce that Kingpins Amsterdam will coincide with the debut edition of Amsterdam’s Denim Days, an event that connects and highlights the city’s ambitious and spirited denim community,” said Andrew Olah, Kingpins’ founder. “It is not only a huge honour, but it allows us to pool our collective passion for denim and reach the denim industry on a scale that I’ve never seen before.” Kingpins Amsterdam will take place at Westergasfabriek’s distinctive Gashouder building on May 7-8, 2014.
Denim Days, a new initiative from House of Denim, is a series of related events in Amsterdam that will provide an opportunity for denim brands, producers, consumers, press and designers to celebrate all things indigo. The inaugural Denim Days is scheduled for May 7-11 and Blueprint, a Denim Days event organized by the Modefabriek trade show, will share its venue with Kingpins Amsterdam. Key themes for the event are innovation and sustainability.
“Partnering with Kingpins is a great opportunity to connect all of House of Denim’s projects, including Jean School, to the international denim fraternity,” said Mariette Hoitink, Owner / Founder / Managing Director of HTNK, Amsterdam’s top fashion recruitment and consultancy firm, and Chairwoman of House of Denim. “ We look forward to welcoming Kingpins and all their guests to our city to share and inspire.”
“It’s so great to have Kingpins on board during Denim Days,” said Lucel van den Hoeven, founder and chief executive of fashion trade show Modefabriek and organizer of Denim Days’ Blueprint event. “The connection between all the disciplines of the dynamic denim industry will make Amsterdam Denim Days a unique experience!”
“By pairing Denim Days and Kingpins Amsterdam we are able to reach a broad range of the denim industry and lay the foundation for a sense of community that spans the entire denim supply chain, from mills to designers and brands all the way through to consumers,” said James Veenhoff, co-founder of the ground-breaking Jean School and chief of the House of Denim. “It’ll be a celebration of denim in the truest sense in that we’ll explore what’s exciting about denim now and share ideas about the future of the industry.”
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About Kingpins
The Kingpins Show is an invitation-only, boutique denim sourcing show featuring a highly-edited selection of vendors that include denim and sportswear fabric mills from the U.S., Japan, China, India, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Thailand, Spain and Mexico, wash houses, full package manufacturers, trim providers and business solutions. Kingpins, which launched in 2004, produces biannual shows in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Amsterdam.
About House of Denim + Jean School
The House of Denim is a platform for craftsmanship and innovation in the denim industry. Through the development of education, innovation, enterprise and networking projects, we strive to make the world of jeans dryer, cleaner and smarter. We will connect and inspire denim professionals in all the key regions of our global industry. If you love denim, you already know we have to reinvent it.
Jean School is the first of its kind in the world; a full-time 3 year practical ‘college’ course, realized in collaboration with ROCvA Amsterdam. Jean School’s curriculum was co-developed with denim experts to ensure optimal fit with industry reality, the course spans the entire scope from crop to shop. Next on their wish list is a one-year international course. In the long run, they dream of an international network of jean schools in all the key denim industry capitals.
About HTNK
Known for its focus denim, Amsterdam-based HTNK is an innovative and progressive recruitment & consultancy firm. Founded by Mariette Hoitink in 1997, HTNK continues to expand its influence in the denim industry specifically, as well as the apparel industry in general. HTNK’s incomparable network spans designers and P&D specialists to trend buyers, quality control and general managers and everything in between.