Enrique Silla, the Valencian businessman who ages Levi’s 501 with out contaminating: “They are an icon of vogue and now of sustainability”

The Levi’s 501, an object of need for tens of millions of younger folks all over the world, turned 150 years outdated on May 18. An necessary date that the denims model celebrated in model at its headquarters in San Francisco (California).

Just two blocks from these headquarters, the corporate’s first manufacturing unit and the primary jean manufacturing unit on the planet was constructed on the finish of the nineteenth century on Valencia Street. A premonition? This is what Enrique Silla thinks, the businessman who, along with his know-how invented and developed within the metropolis of Valencia, has revolutionized the manufacturing of the model’s denims. “It’s a pleasant coincidence that I instructed Bob Haff, president of the corporate, a couple of days in the past, through the anniversary celebration. It has been very good to take part in an occasion attended by household and buddies of the model,” says Silla, founder and proprietor of Jeanología, Levi’s predominant technological companion.

A know-how that has remodeled the manufacturing technique of Levi’s and 45% of the denims which can be manufactured worldwide, utilizing a minimal quantity of water and with out polluting chemical compounds. “We centered on blue denims as a result of it’s the most generally used cloth. Basically we developed laser know-how and ozone eco-washers that exchange the well-known stonewashing that was used to age the material, to make it softer and provides it that worn-in look on some areas”, explains the businessman.

Innovations that can redefine the 501 of the long run. “The subsequent step is for them to be probably the most sustainable denims, in addition to probably the most resistant, a logo of riot. The aim is for this vogue icon to turn into an icon of sustainability,” says Silla.

The science of jean ending

Born and raised in a household devoted to textiles and, extra particularly, to the denim cloth of denims, Silla studied Economics, and as quickly as he completed his diploma he headed to England to work in a manufacturing unit the place this cloth was produced. “When I returned to Valencia, I used to be obsessive about the massive quantity of water and chemical compounds used within the manufacturing course of and I created Jeanology, the science of jean ending.”

That was in December 1994. Silla surrounded himself with engineers and vogue designers and set to work to make his dream come true. “Almost 30 years have handed and we now have achieved it, though we nonetheless have the spirit of a start-up, to proceed altering textile know-how and on the similar time enhance the world”, says the businessman.

A profitable enterprise mannequin, with nearly 1,000 purchasers within the portfolio, which exhibits that the sustainability and revenue binomial is appropriate. “Before, it was thought that to generate income it’s a must to pollute, however that has modified. Taking care of the planet is a superb enterprise that additionally brings advantages to shareholders. We should see enterprise as a supply of excellent,” he says.

Levi’s and Jeanologia, a profitable union

Jeanología, represented by Enrique Silla and his daughter Pepa, was the one technological companion invited to the celebration of the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 501. A pattern of the significance of the Valencian firm for Levi’s.

A collaboration that started in 2008, though it was not till 2015 when Jeanología was chosen by the American firm to revolutionize the manufacturing of its denims. “They took us by the hand and instructed us we’re going collectively, we imagine in you and we’re going to rework our whole manufacturing chain together with your know-how,” remembers Silla.

A union that meant an acceleration ramp for the Valencian firm that presently collaborates with super-luxury manufacturers reminiscent of Balenciaga and others from the mass market reminiscent of Primark or Carrefour, together with Tommy Hifiger, Calvin Klein or Hugo Boss.

His newest milestone is signed along with Inditex, with whom he has developed the Air Fiber Washer, the “first” industrial air system designed to extract microfibers through the manufacture of clothes and thus cut back their subsequent detachment in home washing, in accordance with the corporate. Valencian in an announcement.

This new improvement makes it attainable to cut back the detachment of microfibers by as much as 60% via the air, with out the necessity to use water or thermal power and with out compromising elements reminiscent of the standard of the materials.

A textile manufacturing unit within the Nevada desert

In 2018 Jeanologia wished to point out the world the a number of benefits of its clear applied sciences. “We constructed the primary textile manufacturing unit that doesn’t use water and doesn’t pollute within the Nevada desert (United States), a milestone for the reason that manufacturing of textiles started in Egypt 4,000 years in the past,” says the businessman.

Now, after remodeling the manufacturing of denims, Silla continues with its nice goal, making the manufacturing of every kind of textiles sustainable. “We are working to develop applied sciences and promote them in different elements of textiles. Now we’re going for T-shirts, for wool sweaters and we’re going to see how we will make polyester microfibrils disappear, amongst different initiatives.”

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