Denim design lab’s do-it-yourself denim styling kit, launched almost a year ago, included a handbook that was part denim encyclopedia and part how-to guide. This year, DDL is bringing the book back in an expanded coffee-table format with a limited-edition run.
The book, “Denim Design Lab LE,” is due to hit stores in late January or early February and will have a limited run of 5,000 copies, said Brian Robbins, DDL’s founder and president.
“The original book had to fit in that particular pocket of the kit,” said Robbins.
Copies of the book were also sold separately from the kit. However, the cost of the book, which retailed for about $50, seemed out of proportion to its physical size.
“Once it was released and selling separately, we realized the size was too small,” he said.
The new 9-inch by 12-inch coffee-table book includes a history of denim fabric and manufacturing, and a guide on how denim fiends can style and texture their own jeans. The new version will feature additional chapters on the history and development of the Diesel and Evisu brands. The book will retail for $100 and will be hand numbered.
“There’s more visual and photographic content from Lee, Levi’s and Cone,” said Robbins.
Even the cover art is denim. A premium organic selvage from Cone’s White Oak label will be used for the covers, which will be hand-finished by APS Laundry and Finishing in Los Angeles, and will include a custom embroidered front title. A selvage denim book marker is included.
“It’s first come, first served on the books,” said Robbins. “We’re targeting everyone who sells our kits and our denim. I think they’re cheap for what goes into the process, but for a book, they’re not cheap.”