When and where was Hiut created?
The Hiut Denim Co started 2 years ago. It is situated on the far western edge of Wales in a town called Cardigan. It is a beautiful place to live. It is on the edge. The edge is where the interesting things happen, the most interesting stuff always starts life on the fringes.
And we are on the waters edge. There is no backward step to take. We are a small army. Small armies can travel fast. They can surprise a big army by their speed.
After the closing of the old factory, everyone at the new factory knows this is our second chance. We will not be given another one. So we must fight knowing that this this is our last chance. Knowing that is useful when you are fighting a battle.
Why did you decide to start up?
It started with a mission to get the town making jeans again. You see, for 40 years it had the biggest jeans factory in Britain. It made 35,000 pairs of jeans every week for 3-4 decades employing 400-500 people. That’s a lot of jeans. And also, a lot of skill.
Then in 2001 the factory closed. It had fought the battle of who could be the cheapest. And it had lost.
But we decided 4 decades worth of skill, knowledge and understanding shouldn’t go to waste. But this time, we will fight a different battle. A battle for quality, design and ideas. And that’s why the Hiut Denim Company was born: To get the town making jeans again.
It’s a great story. Manfacturing goes away but doesn’t come back. But sentiment alone is not going to get 400 people their jobs back. There is no great brand that is built on sentiment alone. But ideas can get them their jobs back.
Our job is to have ideas. Only ideas will bring those jobs back.
What's the most important thing about denim?
It gets better with age. There isn’t many things that can say that.
How important was it to you to manufacture jeans in a town rich in denim history?
Malcolm Gladwell talks about having to do 10,000 hours to become a grandmaster in chess. In our town, we have people who have spent 20,000 hours, 30,000 hours, and in some cases, 40,000-50,000 hours of making jeans under their belts.
So oh boy can make a great jean. We have nearly 200 years worth of experience within our small team. We use denim from the best mills in the world. Our Japanese selvedge denim from the legendry Kuroki Mill uses natural indigo and is hand dipped 10 times until it gets to the very core of the cotton, so it will age as beautifully a jean can.
We love quality, we love understated design, that is just what we do. The skill in the town allows us to amongst the best makers in the world. But we know we have to combine those skills with new skills. And those new skills are based around having ideas.
We have to challenge the Status Quo of an industry that had its most innovative day back in 1886. That is why we are here.
David can beat Goliath. But only if David fights a different battle to what Goliath wants to fight.
What plans does Hiut Denim Co have for the future?
There are many things I would like to tell you about as they are so exciting. But we are a small army. Small armies don’t share their secrets. The element of surprise is key.
