Home (all) Welcome to DENHAM the Jeanmaker´s website. Each card reveals a story which represents one facet of Denham´s vision. Categorised by the collection, garment library, studio & stores, to press reports & the birth of the Cutter´s Council. Designed in time with no beginning nor end, through resourceful innovation and fearless experimentation. It´s a decorated blog. A tailor-made homepage. We hope to fascinate but are equally prepared to frustrate.
We had read how Viet Nam soldiers used to commission local tailors to take apart deployed out-of-service parachutes and sew them into government issue jackets as a lining modification. We love the notion of "field modifications" like this. As with workwear, it's usually the guy wearing the garment who is in the best position to improve its design. Workwear history is full of moments of inspired improvisational design. Farm hands cutting the bib off of bib-overalls to create a waist-overall or in other words; a modern 5-pocket jean, is a good example.
Once we read about this lining modification we were determined to work the concept into one of our own designs. We had already built an entire jacket out of 1940's silk parachutes but we wanted to take a more impressionistic approach the next time around. - So we felt like we had found one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets when we managed to locate an actual example of one of these jackets at the Rose Bowl in L.A.
This piece provided one of the key ingredients for the approach we later took to the Spring 2012 Advisor Parka "Inspired By James Lavelle" Edition.
Before we created we collected.
But we collect not just to acquire; we collect to examine, analyze, and to learn. Decades in the making, the DENHAM GARMENT LIBRARY supplies the raw material for our research, design and development. We can’t benefit from tailoring traditions unless we understand them better, and new ideas crumble if they’re not built on a strong foundation. Each item in the library tells a story and each one represents a starting-point for our collections.
Jason Denham’s single-minded obsession with denim is the primary inspiration for the brand. His conviction that deep knowledge comes with extensive research is central to the whole studio’s design approach. The label’s own growing archive is home for an expansive collection of archetypal jean models as well as workwear, military clothing and travel gear from the last century all the way up until today.
We know our predecessors, our contemporaries and our competitors. We take inspiration from anyone and any place producing relevant ideas but we’re never content simply to reproduce someone else's approach even if that person's name has been safely lost to history. The research feeds our passion and our passion is to progress our tradition ever forward.
WORSHIP TRADITION. DESTROY CONVENTION