Belgian designer Kentroy Yearwood may have a denim head, but he also has an eco-friendly heart.
For his premium, Amsterdam-based denim brand, Intoxica, Yearwood created a line to look good and “do good,” too.
“People are intoxicated today by overbranding and overconsumption,” said Yearwood, who trained at the Flanders Fashion Institute in Antwerp, where he created ethical styles, including designs made from recycled sofa leather. “We don’t use genetically modified cottons or harmful dyeing or finishing techniques, and no person involved in the production is exploited.”
Yearwood said 80 percent of Intoxica’s styles contain organic fabrics and all items are produced in fair-trade factories.
First launched as a high-end denim line for men last year, Intoxica’s debut women’s collection for next fall is already getting kudos from trendy retailers such as Fred Segal and select concept stores in Japan and Europe.
“Today, consumers want to be informed,” Yearwood said. “It is essential to teach them not only where jeans are made but why and how they are made, as well.”
Moonlighting as a professor of fashion design at the Kolding design school in Denmark, Yearwood, 38, also has a lesson to give when it comes to intriguing designs in denim.
“It’s about the 19th-century nouveau riche,” Yearwood said of his inspiration for fall. “They tried to be accepted into the bourgeoisie, but they were always slightly off and a bit rough around the edges.”
That translates into denim capes thrown over well-cut jackets and shirts, and denim jodhpurs. Jeans wholesale for 100 to 129 euros, or $133 to $172, and jackets for 140 to 195 euros, or $186 to $259.
Yearwood said his turn-of-the-century cyber-cowgirl look, which features a slim-fit jacket and jeans with visible selvage seams, attracted solid orders. While taking the ethical route can be up to three times more costly in terms of production, Yearwood still insists on using high-quality Japanese selvage denim for his jeans, as well as organic cashmeres and knits. The whole collection is washable, naturally, as dry cleaning is on Yearwood’s list of environmental no-no’s.