Lil Denim Jean came on the scene several years ago when they launched one of the first instagram accounts dedicated to highlighting and archiving the badass pants defining today’s denim design landscape. The platform is the brainchild of two skaters, Max Kaupp and Nick Baur, who have used their love of both head turning pants and youth culture to create a platform that champions emerging designers and boundary-pushing denim design. Inadvertently morphing into an online community of like minded individuals, celebrating and discovering young designers, niche brands, bedroom makers and everything in between.
With an innate sense of creativity and eye for innovative design that sets Lil Denim Jean apart from other fashion platforms, the duo have expanded into producing their own lil denim jeans. Focusing on bespoke finishes with a fresh attitude, this will be their second style launch to date.
We chatted with the dudes behind Lil Denim Jean a bit about their inspiration behind the now infamous IG account, what sparked the idea to create their own jeans irl and how that process unfolded.
"In 2019, as streetwear had become a huge thing in youth culture, we felt like trends and big corporations had taken over too much of the platform from everyone that designed great products from home."
— Max Kaupp and Nick Baur
How did Lil Denim Jean come to be?
In 2019 as streetwear had become a huge thing in youth culture, we felt like trends and big corporations had taken over too much of the platform from everyone that designed great products from home. Some years ago it felt like fashion was mostly about sneakers and hoodies, there were only a few people experimenting with pants and their shapes. We wanted to bundle all this creative power and started lildenimjean as a digital museum to reinforce the power of pants in todays vision of style. As we grew our reach there were many designers/friends that also grew with us. It created a community of appreciation on the hunt for new ways to evolve fabrics & silhouettes.
After a few years it gets harder to find something really new, but we’re still astonished by how many designers have the stamina to make a product that no industry-brand could ever do, while using only their grandma’s sewing machine at home.
What inspired you to then start making your own jeans?
Coming from hundreds of custom 1:1 jeans we made at home we aim to collide the possibilities of the factory with our childish brains. In Italy the denim industry had a hard time competing with cheaper production facilities, so they had to focus on doing low quantity, but therefore very complicated and unique designed products. Being able to dream in the sampling process led us to great outcomes, of which most are not yet visible to the public.
"We’re still astonished by how many designers have the stamina to make a product that no industry-brand could ever do, while using only their grandma's sewing machine at home."
— Max Kaupp and Nick Baur
What have you learned about producing denim products between the first jean you launched and this one?
What we learned was that every production is a new birth, you will rarely face the same problems twice. We aimed to make a more unisex product and prepare a look that no-one can remake. The first sample was made over a year ago. We tried many times to find the perfect ratio on the Cocoon Jean and make a perfect fit for ourselves.
We’d love to get a little geeky about the finish if you’re up for it! We know they were made in Italy, is there anything about that rad web like finishing you can share? Is the webbing a sprayed sort of finish or actually stitched down?
If someone makes it up to here they deserve to know everything! We and our Laundry Fimatex tried to apply this net by a heavy synthetic-wax coating. The Cotton web gets stretched and covered by sheets of this way-foil, then heated under high pressure. But it looked very much like plastic. So with a few tricks we managed to take the shiny effect mostly off and give more space for the web to break out and fall naturally.
All in all, it’s been a wild ride for the skater duo behind Lil Denim Jean. Growing from a passion project platform to one of the best design ‘archive’ accounts out there. Leading to an engaged community of like minded individuals celebrating the next generation of denim design and designers. Lil Denim Jean is a prime example of how passion, creativity and community can come together to create something truly special in the realm of denim which can otherwise be an overwhelming competitive space.
We can’t wait to see the strange and delightful spin Max Kaupp and Nick Baur put on their next Lil Denim Jean.
