There aren’t very many days when you won’t find me wearing a pair of jeans – hardly any, in fact. For me, well-fitting jeans are the perfect everyday uniform (sometimes also taking me well beyond daytime wear). And even if I easily exceed the German average of eight to ten pairs, I know I’m not the exception, but the rule.

In recent seasons, runways from New York and London to Milan and Paris have been showing versatile head-to-toe denim looks, proving that men’s and womenswear designers have long since accepted this iconic fabric into the club of the fashion elite. And it has even made it into the world of couture. So we could even say that denim has reached the peak of its existence – or has it?

You can read all about the “cannibalism of the denim industry”, an unavoidable shift and the discerning demands of Generations X and Z in our main feature entitled ‘Refocus – The State of Denim’ on page 48, for which author Björn Lüdtke asked international experts about the status quo of this ‘blue gold’.

We also travelled to the north and south of Europe for this issue. KnowledgeCotton Apparel, Dr. Denim and Nudie Jeans always make a trip to Scandinavia worth our while: we caught up with the founders to find out about their perception of jeans and how they expect the future of the industry to pan out. In our cover editorial ‘Sashimi Denim’ on page 52, we’re also showing just how versatile menswear denim can be, while our second editorial shoot ‘Centraal City’ brilliantly demonstrates how jeans don’t always have to play the leading role.

Moving on in a southerly direction, to Portugal to be precise, we took a glimpse behind the state-of-the-art scenes of vertical manufacturer Polopique. In an interview, founder Luís Guimarães revealed the advantages of producing in Europe and how, despite the challenges, sustainability can be integrated into a company’s structure.

So we hope that you not only learn something new from this new issue, but can also draw some inspiration from the many movers, shakers, creators and forward-thinkers we spoke to.

Enjoy reading!

Cheryll Mühlen & team