Lenzing, KP24 Flash, Kingpins Exchange and more

Hello Everyone
Seems like February has snuck up on us as it’s now almost time for New Year’s celebrations in lots of Asian countries like Chinese New Year (year of the Ox), the Vietnamese Tết holidays and the Korean Seollal. Wishing all our friends in Asia wonderful celebrations and a happy, healthy, pandemic-free and lucky year to come.

Kingpins24 Flash – Denim Innovation and Technology
Kingpins24 Flash! Is back (digitally) on February 23 and 24 starting at 11am (Eastern Standard Time) each day. It’s all about denim innovation and specificity. Everyone presenting will take one idea or product that they think is their best innovation and share it. (Take notes!)
Registration is now open Here
We miss you all and can’t wait to see everyone soon either live or on-demand!


Lenzing – Lead Sponsor for Kingpins24
As the denim industry has been forced to find brand new ways to operate online over the past year, we have been busy offline working on a brand-new innovation. We will reveal our new secret at Kingpins 24 on February 23 and 24 but until then, keep it under your hat. Join us!

Kingpins Exchange – Digital Material Library and Digital Events
And then there is Kingpins Exchange coming up. Our partner, Material Exchange, is running on all cylinders preparing the hosting site for our Kingpins 24 Flash event which will be the hosting sites for all future Kingpins digital events. Kingpins Exchange will allow you to zoom into our show as always and look at denim fabrics as well. More than 55 mills have collections on the site and we hope they take advantage of our Flash event and put up the new and most recent fabrics in between spring and fall.

Denim Misinformation – The Denim Industry is NOT the dirtiest Industry
Today on our website Kingpins Show, you’ll find a new story that questions all those that constantly make it seem like our denim industry is environmentally worse than other industries which is odd, since it’s not true.
If you love information and our industry you might like this story.

February Love – The role that time and iteration play in the production of creative works
Chris Price, one of my colleagues and the one who is spearheading our development for Kingpins Exchange, suggested I listen to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast.
It’s about music, a song or two, and about art and how some people can do the most amazing creative things in a very short time like Picasso or Orson Wells and how others like Cézanne cannot. It’s ultimately about how the Leonard Cohen song “Halleluah” originally bombed commercially. But many years later, it was recorded by John Cale, and then again by Jeff Buckley, and it never really found much popularity until Buckley died. The podcast is all about art and development of perfection over time, nuance and by people engaging.
The podcast is more than fantastic on so many levels. Enjoy it. But more than that, please understand Kingpins Exchange is the first of endless drafts of a platform that will be perfection, Cézanne-style, after the interaction between suppliers, sourcing teams, wash experts and creative design. Kingpins Exchange is an industry call to action to help shape a tool you will love forever, because it’s for you.

Happy Valentine’s Day! – A short documentary on Japanese botanical artist Azuma Makoto
Gordon Heffner, co-founder of one of America’s most prestigious jean shops Blue In Green, suggested this: (From New Yorker magazine) Alison Klayman’s documentary shows how a former punk musician brought his sensibility—part poet, part mad scientist—to the unlikely medium of floral art.
Azuma Makoto’s Provocative Botanical Sculptures, in “Flower Punk” on the New Yorker website or View on Youtube.
And Lastly – Here is our new infographic
Ever wondered how many jeans can be produced from 1 cotton bale, or how many sewing operations are required to make 1 pair of Levi 501’s? Check out our new infographic for the answers to these questions and more:
