QUIKSILVER LAUNCHES ITS “BORN FROM THE SEA” DENIM

In store now, online soon!

The Born From The Sea denim range marks the beginning of a new era in denim

for Quiksilver. New processes, new washes, new fits… a totally new way of

thinking about denim.

And a new designer.

The creative drive behind the initiative has come from Noosa-born, Sydney-based designer and surfer, Sam Elsom. Having already collaborated with Quiksilver on the elsom range – a collection of luxurious, hand-tailored garments for guys – 29-year-old Sam was given the freedom to rebuild Quiksilver’s denim range from the

ground up.

“Denim’s changed; the whole industry has changed,” says Sam. “Once upon a time everyone who surfed bought their jeans from a surf shop. Now you’ve got a million options and a lot of specialist jean brands. Surf denim needed to evolve. I was really excited when I came into the project because Quiksilver already had the factories, the materials and the volume… they were well set up to do some really cool shit with their jeans.”

The inspiration for the new range has come from the ocean. Hundreds of shades of indigo exist in a constant state of transformation as the seas rise and fall with the elements. The changing colours and textures of the ocean compare to how denim wears and changes character over time.

“The ocean and the coast change gradually, naturally, and we wanted to mimic that natural process with the washes in the range,” says Sam, “by using elemental washes, washes that mimic the way the elements weather the cliffs. We wanted the jeans to evolve naturally in their own time and look authentically worn, authentically aged. The key thing with the range was to try and get a lot of depth in the washes, make the washes look real.” Sam took his cues for the three-dimensional washes from the hues he sees in the ocean. “There’s real subtleties in the blues of the ocean, there’s deep cobalts from down Margaret River way, and more vibrant blues in the tropics.”

The Born From The Sea range also sees Quiksilver denim offering new fits to work over the key washes, making the right jean and wash combination even easier to find. Fits have been refined and tailored to give the most progressive silhouettes without compromising comfort and wearability.

Of course a major initiative like this hasn’t happened without a lot of work from Sam and his design team. “More than ever we’ve been heavily involved in the factories ourselves. We’ve been in the factories working with the crew on the hand finishes and the finer techniques needed to make our jeans unique.” Some styles in the range receive up to 10 separate wash and treatment processes. “We’ve go things like hand packing, hand sanding, whiskering, tinting, bleaching, stonewashing, then a lot of hand sewing in the end to finish off. It’s a crazy long process. It’s wild how involved the process is.”

Sam’s thoughts on the range now it’s come to life: “It’s a work in progress, just like the ocean is a work in progress. We’ve made some radical changes in the range, we’ve turned everything on its head in terms of our process and taken it to new levels of involvement. I’m stoked with the range. The fits are great, the denims good, the washes are evolving just like the sea.”

This is the beginning of an exciting new era for Quiksilver denim.

We are Born From The Sea.