We often describe our design process as being material focused. What we mean by that is that we usually start by exploring different fabrics and materials, and build our products and collections from there. In practice this means finding interesting qualities from fabric mills or yarn qualities for knitwear. This step is however the third or second step when we’re looking at our supply chain as a whole. Before the fabrics are woven, the raw material needs to be produced, and then spun into yarn.

The production of the raw materials differ, and in our chain of value you’ll find several types of raw materials.

As a denim centered brand, cotton is naturally our most used raw material. We also use other plant fibres such as linen. These plant fibres are farmed. The vast majority of the linen we use is European flax. Cotton origins on the other side have been the most difficult parts of our chain of value to document, since the fabric mills in general are most concerned with the fibre lengths and quality of the cotton, and a given fabric quality therefore can be made with differing cotton origins in different seasons. We have now developed a system to trace the cotton origins for each individual product, and will from our FW25 season onwards have this information easily available. In the potential cases where we’re not able to find the origin, it’s also important for us to be transparent about that.

Animal husbandry is another source of natural raw materials, such as wool and woolen fibres like mohair, alpaca and yak. Silk is another material involving both farming and breeding of silkworms. And leather is used for both the jacron patches on the back waistband of our jeans and other leather products. All leather we use originates as a byproduct from the food industry. For wool fibres we look for both high quality and responsible production with regards to animal welfare. 

Some materials in our collections can be made using regenerated fibres, such as viscose, or synthetic fibres like nylon or polyester. Production of viscose involves both forestry as well as a processing stage where cellulose from trees or other plants are processed into viscose fibres with the help of chemistry. For viscose fibres we prefer to use certified sources such as lyocell, which regulates both responsible forestry and the water and chemical usage in the processing stage. 

Recycled fibers also have a labour intensive production process, which involves both collecting, sorting and processing. 

Lastly we have metals used in hardware such as buttons, rivets, zippers and buckles. Here we aim to trace the metal origin for all our products, whether it’s where the metal is mined or where it’s been processed for recycled metals.

The raw plant or woolen fibers are bought by the yarn spinners, who thoroughly cleans the fibers, before it’s carded or combed to align the tangled fibers. The fibers then go through a series of processes before it’s ultimately spun into yarns. 

The fabric mills might do the yarn spinning themselves through vertically integrated companies, or purchase the yarns from external spinners. Whichever the case, we strive to work with fabric mills that work closely with the yarn spinners, as it brings us closer to the raw material origin and makes the flow of information more accessible and reliable. When there are too many links involved in the supply chain, the process to obtain information regarding the origin becomes challenging, slow and less reliable.

Most of our products will also involve a dyeing stage. This can happen at several stages of production depending on the desired result. 

Some woolen qualities are dyed by the spinner before getting spun into yarn, to create a marl colour effect. Other yarns are dyed after being spun, but before weaving or knitting, either by the yarn producer or by the fabric mill.

The chosen dyeing method affects the result, and is particularly important for denim, as it dictates how the fabric will fade and age over time. All our denim qualities are rope-dyed, with the exception of white undyed denim. This dyeing process is done at the denim mills, before the fabric is woven. Rope-dyeing involves dipping the warp yarns repeatedly in indigo. For each dip the colour becomes darker, but importantly the very core of the yarn stays undyed. It is this dyeing method that makes denim such a living material. With wear the indigo dye will gradually wear off, and more so at points of friction, creating contrasts in the fabric. And the more the cotton fabric is worn, the closer you get to the white core of the indigo yarns, and the result is a lighter shade of blue, gradually getting closer to white.

Dyeing can also be done at the assembly stage, after the garment is cut and sewn. This process is called garment dyeing, and creates a different texture and feel to the colour compared to yarn dyed fabrics.

The fabric process stage is where the yarn, or several different types of yarn, is made into fabric, either by weaving or knitting. 

Our woven fabrics are sourced from different fabric mills, in most cases specialised in specific types of fabrics. A denim mill will be set up differently, and require different machines and equipment, from a mill producing wool coat materials, or silk fabrics for example. 

Even though fabric mills have modernised greatly in the last half century, making processes far more efficient than how it was 50+ years ago, the process is still largely similar to how it has been since the industrial revolution, and still requires a lot of skilled manual labour. Even fabrics made on modern parallel looms, which are highly automated, require several steps at the mill that are all done by hand. 

One example is the warping, where the warp yarns are lined up on a beam to prepare them for weaving. The warp for a narrow and heavy selvage denim can consist of around 2000 yarns, a midweight wideloom denim will have a warp consisting of close to 4000 yarns. And for silk fabrics the warp can consist of a mindblowing number of silk strands, between 10.000 and 20.000 superfine silk filaments. These are all carefully attached to the warping beam by hand, and the many kilometers of yarn are carefully inspected when spun onto the beam by highly skilled workers to ensure there are no breakage in any of the yarns in the process. This warp later needs to be threaded into the loom, which again is a manual process that needs to be done by hand, one yarn at a time, even on modern automated looms. 

Jersey fabric, used in garments like T-shirts and sweatshirts, is knitted on circular knitting machines. These knitting machines are automated and create a long tube of fabric. But even though the T-shirt might be the most ubiquitous and simple seeming piece of clothing, even this fabric process requires surprisingly a lot of work. Before each batch of fabric, all the needles in the knitting machine need to be taken out and inspected for any subtle faults or damages. After being installed again, all the yarns are threaded by hand into the needles. A fine gauge knitting machine used for T-shirt jersey can have more than 2.500 needles.

The jersey fabric is then cut and sewn at another factory at the assembly stage. For woolen knits in our knitwear range, the knitting process and the assembly, or linking, is usually done at the same factory.

Finally the fabric and components have come to the assembly stage. This is what most people think of when they read “made in”. 

The factories we work with are all specialized for specific product groups, which is quite normal as you require different machinery to construct different types of products. 

The fabrics are cut based on patterns previously designed and tested. Then the different parts are sewn together according to the design. Of course there are a lot of technical aspects involved here as well, for example what types of seams and machinery that should be used at different parts of the garment. This stage of production is often simply called “Cut & Sew”. 

In this age of 3D printing, robots, and automated assembly line production of food and objects, many people are surprised to hear that there are no automated assembly line production of clothing. Certain stages of the cut & sew line might be automated, like the fabric cutting and the folding and bordering of a jeans back pocket for example, but all garments are still sewn together guided by skilled human hands with a sewing machine (with the one rare exception of 3D knitted garments). 

Assembly for knitwear is called linking, and is usually done at the same factory as the actual knitting. The linking process requires skilled and nimble hands, and is a highly manual process even though it’s done on a linking machine.

When the main assembly process is completed, the garments may be sent to a laundry to be washed or garment dyed. Here there are a large range of possibilities. Garments can be given a light rinse to make them softer and pre-shrunk, or a heavier wash, maybe involving stones, for a faded look. Knitwear is also washed so the garments achieve the right texture.

Finally trims, patches and labels are attached, and the garments are quality controlled, before being packed up and sent to their destination: Our warehouse in Norway.

When our product arrives at our warehouse in Oslo, there have been at least eight different companies involved in the production of the main parts of the garment. And now that we’re digging deeper into our chain of value, also tracing the chain of value of our hardware and trims, the real picture can be more than 40 companies involved in the making of a simple pair of jeans. 

At our warehouse we do a final quality control of the production, before the products find their way to our customers and our distribution, which is mostly brick-and-mortar retailers

Our retailers are our customers, who offer the products to you, the end customer. This might seem obvious and unnecessary to mention, but it’s very important to include this link in the supply chain as it makes for a deciding factor for the final price. Adding another company into the supply chain means that the final price must account for the operation costs and economic health of an additional company. 

Much discourse has been dedicated to the role of retailers since the advent of online shopping, but we believe in the value of quality retailers (which of course also can exist online). Good curation and staff with high product knowledge delivers added service to the customer, not to mention the social aspects of community building and creating interesting and livable neighbourhoods.