Kingpins Amsterdam recently wrapped its April 16-17 show at SugarFactory, where nearly 1,200 individuals from nearly 550 companies and over 40 countries attended to view the latest denim collections and learn about new developments and burgeoning trends on the horizon. Among the retailers and brands that turned out were Karl Lagerfeld, Hugo Boss, Tenue Jeans, Inditex, Jacob Cohen, Kings of Indigo, PVH, Jack & Jones, Ganni, Adidas, H&M, Levi’s and G-Star.
Attendees came primarily from Europe, including the greatest concentration coming from The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. There was a large contingent from Turkey and a sizable group from the United States. In addition, the show drew attendees from across North, Central and South America, including from Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico and Canada. Asia was also in attendance, including representatives from China, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand, as well as attendees from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
This edition featured several new spaces, including Made in Japan, a curated mix of denim mills and manufacturers from Japan. Exhibitors, including Kurabo, RainbowTextiles, San Marino and Showa were among the exhibitors showing in Made in Japan. Additionally, several exhibitors participated in a Denim Talks panel discussion led by The Vintage Showroom’s Doug Gunn.
Gunn also curated an installation, titled “Tattered Threads, Unspoken Memory,” featuring vintage Japanese denim and the art of “boro.”
“We were pleased to see the enthusiastic reception to Made in Japan,” said Kingpins Chief Executive Officer Vivian Wang. “Retailers and brands took advantage of the curated space to view the beauty and craftsmanship of our exhibitors’ collections and they dropped by the Denim Talks to hear about Japan’s denim history from Yuji Honzawa (Dr. Denim), Betty Smith’s Yasuhiro Oshima, Big John’s Tsuyoshi Shimizu, and Amhot Holdings’s Bobby Tohma.”
Wang acknowledged the challenge of hosting the show amid the uncertainty of the Trump administration’s threat of tariffs on goods from many countries around the world, including many denim production centers.
Going forward, Wang said she hopes Kingpins continues to provide a global platform where the denim industry can work together to find solutions to current challenges impacting business.
In her welcome remarks to exhibitors on opening day, she referenced the lyrics of the song “Love Wins All,” by South Korean singer-songwriter IU, noting “The road we’ve chosen — devoting ourselves to the denim industry — is often a lonely one. But thankfully, we have this community. People from different backgrounds, cultures and languages, all united by one shared passion: denim. It’s because of this love and dedication that we’re able to gather here today. This show wouldn’t exist without your support.”
Another new section of the show was dedicated to new innovations and hands-on product demonstrations. Exhibitors at the Jeanius Hub, located on the upper level of SugarFactory, included Testex x ZDHC; Cradle 2 Cradle; Les Mains Bleues (LMB); and HMS (Hand Made Stones), which hosted a workshop in collaboration with Panther Denim.
Kingpins’ innovation and collaboration space, The Boxes, was anchored by Tonello’s Denim Renaissance collection, which marries modern technology with historic design; as well as original pieces created for the Future Fit Forum by the latest cohort of designers. The project explores ideas about denim silhouette and fit using saved-from-a-landfill Levi’s 501 jeans and fabric from Soorty featuring Hyosung’s Creora regen stretch fiber.
Another Box, the 3D Denim Archive Project, was created in collaboration between denim manufacturer Rajby Industries, consultancy Endrime and d_archive, a project dedicated to reproducing vintage apparel garments from Endrime’s archive. Using 3D pattern-making technology and hologram projections, the collaboration demonstrated how to preserve vintage denim pieces as digital replicas and then use that information to authentically recreate those pieces.
This season’s Denim Talks seminar series featured the return of the Lil Denim Show, a conversation between Lil Denim Jean creators Nick Baur and Max Kaupp with the latest guests: Jeremy Sebaoun and Eli Saada, the designers of French brand Paradoxe Paris.
Ana Paula Alves, co-founder of Be Disobedient, took Kingpins attendees through a forecast of denim trends in a presentation titled “Denim Forecast: From Macro Shifts to Micro Realities.”
This season also saw the launch of Denim 101, an educational series designed to explore how jeans are made and how the denim business operates. Michael Morell, the President and CEO of Freedom Denim Americas and Europe and a sixth-generation textile and apparel expert, led the introductory class.
Kingpins next heads to Hangzhou for the May 22-23 run of Kingpins China-Hangzhou at ADM More.
