Cone Denim

Sustainblue™

2012-01-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Cone Denim's Sustainblue™ collection is an environmentally friendly collection comprised of constructions using recycled cotton, polyester, and sustainable yarns. This collection takes another step in our commitment to help the environment and joins our current portfolio of existing Cone Denim products that are made using Cone's Energy Saving and Global Sustainability methods.

Our most recent endeavor had us teaming up with Patrick Yarns of Kings Mountain, NC. Patrick Yarns has created EarthSPUN® yarns, yarns that are "Spun by the Sun™ ," using solar power to help run the plant. The source for these yarns comes from domestic plastic containers such as brown beer bottles, green soda bottles, and blue water bottles. The bottles are washed, melted, and extruded into fiber without the added environmental footprint of the dyeing process to add color to the yarn. The proprietary spinning process for EarthSPUN® yarns blends these delicate recycled and renewable fibers into yarns, creating fabrics that provide superior performance, softness and wearability, while helping protect our increasingly fragile environment.

We premiered these fabrics at the Denim by PV show, and are showcasing them again at Kingpins NYC this week. Stay tuned for pictures from the show!

EarthSPUN®, the EarthSPUN® logo, and Spun by the Sun™ are trademarks of Patrick Yarns, Kings Mountain, NC, USA.

Denim by Premiere Vision Nov. 30 - Dec. 1

2011-12-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

We were so excited to take part in the 9th Edition of Denim by Premiere Vision in Paris last week, showcasing our new fabrics for Spring 2013. It was great to see and work with the many denim design companies that attended the show. Be sure to browse through the pictures and check out our booth!

See You in Paris!

2011-05-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

We hope to see you in Paris this week where we are showing at Denim by Premiere Vision.

Be sure to drop by our booth and ask for one of our Cone Denim selvage passport holders, sure to be handy on the trip home. Made of pure indigo dyed denim with a heather grey weft the passport holder is a small sample of the exciting fabrics we will be presenting in Paris.

Here's a sneak peak.

Storytellers: Real Jeans Made by Real People

2010-07-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

It is nice to know where your jeans come from- especially when they are being made right here in North Carolina. We are excited to bring you access to the video below, Raleigh Denim: Handcrafted in North Carolina produced for UNC-TV by David Huppert and directed by Pete Bell, featuring White Oak and one of our local customers: Raleigh Denim. Victor and Sarah Lytvinenko are reducing their carbon footprint by buying local and crafting jeans by hand.

The video gives a sneak peak to a few of White Oak's legends. Mildred Bolen is a longtime employee who can often be found tending to the Draper X3 vintage shuttle looms. Ralph Tharpe, Senior Technical Design Director and in house Denim Guru is interviewed in the Archive and Design Studio- a place that holds much of the history of White Oak. And there is some beautiful footage of the vintage X3's at work- always a sight to be seen!

Raleigh Denim: Handcrafted in North Carolina from David Huppert on Vimeo.

Antenna x Kia Soul x Cone

2010-01-26T20:51:00.000-08:00

Not long ago Antenna magazine approached us about participating in a collaboration with Kia Motors. We supplied the special fabrics and they supplied the car--the Kia Soul-- and the talents needed to deck out the interior with denim. The team chose a limited denim dyed with a special indigo that conjures images of the clear day sky made with organic cotton and hemp. The resulting interior is a denim junkie's dream come true.

Lightning Magazine Features Cone Denim

2010-01-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

For the January 2010 issue of Lightning magazine the editors put together a very special feature on Cone Denim in celebration of Big John's 70th anniversary. It is full of pictures of our White Oak plant, archive, indigo specialists, and selvage denim. Did you know White Oak has been continuously producing denim since 1905? And many of our specialists literally have decades of experience working at the mill mastering their respective trades and crafts. The article also introduces Big John's 70-year anniversary jean made with a very special redline selvage denim woven on American-built shuttle looms at White Oak. Check it out.

Lightning is an influential Japanese magazine that celebrates workwear fashion and Americana culture. This is of course not the first time Lightning Magazine has featured Cone. Who says Lightning doesn't strike twice? Check our press archive page for more.

The GQ Eye

2009-12-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

The cool cats at Freemans Sporting Club caught the eye of GQ.com's blog The GQ Eye and Cone Denim got a shout out too. We never tire of seeing our fabrics transformed into beautiful clothing especially when our product development process involves such an intense amount of research and design.

Check out The GQ Eye article.

The Allure of Selvage Looms

2009-10-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

Part of the allure of vintage denim is the individuality of each piece. Each garment is a picture in time of the spinner's work, the dyer's eye, the weaver's skill, and the sewer's dedication. Suddenly the variations in the fabric caused by the differences in the cotton and old technology, often considered so undesirable in manufacturing, are the very attributes so revered by denim aficionados and collectors.

Vintage denim pieces that have been worn have the added history of the owner. His occupation, how the garment was washed, whether he cuffed the jean or not, and sometimes what he carried in his pockets, all add to the unique "worn in" history of each piece.

The lower the technology used and the older the technology, the more variation we find, and the greater the likelihood of finding something of unique beauty. Today we can use high technology to duplicate the variations in yarn and dye, but we just can't get real selvage denim without real shuttle looms.

Catch our next posts in which we explain what selvage denim really is and shed light on Cone Denim's take on making some of the most authentic denims with over a century of heritage.

Cone Denim in Workwear

2009-09-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

Cone Denim is featured in the new Workwear publication from Japan.

This is not the first time we got love from the Japanese media. Just to name drop our previous press appearances include Lightning, Begin, Mono, and Gainer. Check out our press clippings page.

Roy Meets World

2009-09-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

We would like to introduce Roy Slaper, a self-trained metal worker and denim craftsman based in Oakland, CA. He is our secret weapon. Roy can fashion a missing part for our Union Special Bulldog hemmer or assemble a kick ass pair of jeans to feature a fabric that is hot off the looms. On the same day. For this past Kingpins trade show in New York he made these beautiful totes from our selvage canvases and indigo twill that were so popular we had to commission a second run for Kingpins LA. We call it the 11th Hour Tote. If you were lucky enough to get a bag know that each one was hand cut and sewn by Roy in his studio.

Roy is also a talented illustrator. He has shared with us his early design drafts for this project.

We expect to see many great creations from him in the future.

Great job Roy!

It's a Blog!

2009-09-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

Boy have we been busy! Between launching the new website, setting up for the Kingpins trade shows, and showing off our Fall collection we got the blog up and going. We have many stories to share and hope you will check back from time to time!