Founded by former fashion director of Lula Magazine turned London-based stylist Anna Foster and Kari Greaves, a London-based illustrator and vintage archivist, E.L.V. Denim is an acronym for East London Vintage, the location in which the jeans are manufactured. Sourcing Levi’s, Lee, Evisu and Wrangler castoffs, the two women select the pairs based on their best wash and shape.
Born out of a passion for denim and sustainability the upcycled denim brand label looks at the industry from a sustainable perspective, preventing pre-loved jeans from going to waste by refashioning them into new, hybrid styles.
Each pair is made from start to finish locally in Walthamstow, using recycled denim otherwise destined for landfills. Wanting to take unloved items and give them a second ‘loved’ life, they are passionate about saving used denim. Rescued from landfill, handpicked, deconstructed and spliced together, each jean is made up of two halves of vintage discarded jeans, creating their signature style, The Twin.
Entirely unique in colour and fit, my favoutites are the Grey/Black
And Black match.
The jeans are created with barely any environmental impact and the label's sustainable manufacturing process minimizes water usage, energy, chemical processing and waste.
The beauty of recycled denim is that it has had all the chemical nasties already washed out over the years so you have a comfortable pair of jeans, with no stretch, without having to wear them in.
E.L.V. Denim originally started as a Made to Measure brand, but they found that girls were buying pairs that didn’t need always need adjustments, so developed the ready-to-wear line. The resulting jeans are now available on Net-a-porter, ShopBop | Rêve En Vert | Alex Eagle Studio | Le Bon Marché
Only using recycled denim and with a commitment to ‘no waste’, the brand use every part of the jean. The website not only sells jeans but jackets, shorts, belts, and bags. They even make scrunchies out of the hems!
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By Anna Bance
February 2020