Challenge the Status Quo: Be Disbedient’s Ana Paula Alves
At the Oct. 15-16 run of Kingpins Amsterdam at SugarFactory, Be Disobedient’s Soledad Offenhenden, will lead a Denim Talk, titled “Denim Forecast: From URL to IRL” on both days of the show.
A sociologist by training, Offenhenden worked as a trend forecaster for companies such as Snoops, WGSN and Color Palette. Offenhenden will talk about current issues that will inform upcoming trends. This will help designers create collections that reflect their brand and their customers, rather than simply following a set of mandated trends.
“Soledad brings the human part,” said Ana Paula Alves, who founded Be Disobedient after studying fashion design in her home town, Rio de Janiero, as well as at Central St. Martins in London, and working for companies such as Brazilian sustainable brand Osklen. It was while working in Argentina for Mexico-based denim mill Tavex when Ana earned a reputation for always questioning the status quo.
“I think that you can question the norms that we are living now,” she said. It’s about understanding that we can do things differently than we always did.”
When it came to founding her company, that nonconformist attitude became central to the philosophy of the company — as well as the name.
“Before we would talk about the shape, the color, the palette,” Alves said. “ But now the communication comes first. We have to study data. We have to study culture, understand the region, understand the language.”
For example, she said, what is driving the popularity of Labubu toys? Part of it is a desire to be part of a shared moment, even as people want to be valued for their individuality. Compounding this is the accelerating speed of communication and the sophistication of social media algorithms, which has changed the business of trend forecasting.
“We are in this moment, this very disruptive moment, because we are trying to understand who we are and what we want to do,” she said.
Trend forecasting is just one aspect of Be Disobedient’s services. The company also assists companies in a variety of ways, including helping fashion companies add denim to their mix
Before Ana and her team were part of the Denim Talks lineup at Kingpins, she attended the show while working for Osklen and Tavex.
“I was a visitor for Kingpings for many years,” she said. “I truly love that it’s not a trade show. It’s much more of a community. I believe that when you have a commodity, like denim, like a pair of jeans, if you build a community, you can build this space for conversation, creativity, understanding, commerce. Kingpins gives a voice for people to listen to new ideas — and with this amazing space for colleagues or friends from the same industry, a bit of fun, too.”
Be Disobedient’s Denim Talk “Denim Forecast: From URL to IRL” will be held on Oct. 15 at 11:30am and on Oct. 16 at 1pm
