Jeansland Podcast
This is why I do this. Jeansland is a podcast about the ecosystem in which jeans live. There are an estimated 26 million cotton farmers around the world, and about 25% of their production goes into jeans, which could mean 6.2 million farmers depend on denim. I read estimates that at least 1 million people work in retail selling jeans, and another 1.5 to 2 million sew them. And then there are all the label producers, pattern makers, laundries, chemical companies, machinery producers, and those that work in denim mills. I mean, the jeans industry, which is bigger than the global movie and music business combined, employs a lot of human beings. And many of them, like me, love jeans. The French philosopher and existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, when visiting New York, said, "Everyone in the New York subway is a novel." I never met her, but I guess she made the observation because of the incredible diversity of people who ride the subway system. I'm convinced the people in our jeans industry are like those in the subway. They are unique, with rich and complex stories to tell, and I want to hear them. And deep inside me, I think you might feel the same way.
https://jeansland.co/
Episodes
66 episodes
Ep 66: The Missing Denim Boom
Growth in denim follows a pattern.In Episode 66’s Andrew’s Take, he looks at what has actually driven expansion in the jeans business over time, and why it’s stalled.Every real boom came from a shift in the product...
Ep 65—FRESH BLOOD, Part 5: From Volume to Value with Saifullah Minhas
FRESH BLOOD is about renewal. Every industry either regenerates itself or slowly hardens. In this Jeansland series, Andrew steps back to listen to the next generation already working inside denim’s supply chain, upstream in fibers, sourc...
Ep 64: The Hidden Cost of War
The war doesn't show up where you think it does.In Episode 64's Andrew's Take, he looks at the war in Iran, not politically, but through the lens of the jeans industry. Orders were booked months ago. Prices were locked when oil was lower...
Ep 63—FRESH BLOOD, Part 4: Bridging Design and Production with Hayato Nishi
FRESH BLOOD is about renewal. Every industry either regenerates itself or slowly hardens. In this Jeansland series, Andrew steps back to listen to the next generation already working inside denim’s supply chain, upstream in fibers, sourc...
Ep 62: The Cost of Conflict with Umer Farooq Qureshi
Before the garments even leave the warehouse, the damage is already done.In Episode 62, Andrew sits down again with Umer Farooq Qureshi as the industry finds itself caught in the middle of a war it didn’t start. One year after their last...
Ep 61: Building the Denim Finishing Industry with Alice Tonello
Before there was a denim finishing industry, there was nothing.This week, Andrew sits down with Alice Tonello, Chief Brand & Strategy Officer at Tonello, a second-generation company that helped build that industry from scratch. In 19...
Ep 60: The Human Side of a Contract
In this short, I go back to a moment in the early 90s, sitting across from a senior executive at Calvin Klein who asked me to cancel a fabric order we had already made. I couldn’t. He understood, the goods shipped, and the order was honored as ...
Ep 59: Pakistan’s Vertical Denim System with Rizwan Shafi
Some businesses are built through planning. Others are built through history, disruption, and decisions made under pressure.In Episode 59, I speak with Rizwan Shafi of Crescent Bahuman, one of the defining names in P...
Ep 58—FRESH BLOOD, Part 3: A New Generation of Mills with Lucille Ix and Lucas Van de Woestyne
This is the third installment of our Fresh Blood series. I wanted to hear directly from two young professionals who grew up around textiles and are now working in fabric manufacturing.My guests are Lucille Ix, 22, based in ...
Ep 57—FRESH BLOOD, Part 2: Denim and Transparency with Beyza Baykan
This is Part Two of our FRESH BLOOD series, where I sit down with the next generation of denim leaders and ask what they see that we may not.FRESH BLOOD is about perspective. It is about how young professionals view sustain...
Ep 56—FRESH BLOOD, Part 1: A Different View of the Future with Kaela Bonaquist and William Wood
This is our second two-part special, and this time I step back and listen.Fresh Blood is about renewal. Every industry either regenerates itself or slowly hardens. In this episode, I sit down with Kaela Bonaquist
Ep 55: The Experience Architect: Arne Koefoed
Andrew sits down with Arne Koefoed, co-founder of WINK, to talk about how throwing parties slowly turned into a creative life.Arne never planned on designing experiences. There was no event school, no formal path. It started with ...
Ep 54: The Cost of Rushing Innovation
Andrew reflects on a new report from the Transformers Foundation, Unlocking Equity in Innovation, and why so much meaningful innovation never makes it to market.The supply cha...
Ep 53—Water: Above and Below | Part Two: Will You Help?
This is Part 2 of our two-part Jeansland special, Water: Above and Below.In this episode, we continue the conversation with Rick Kellison and Brent Crossland, shifting from understanding the wa...
Ep 52—Water: Above and Below | Part One: The Ogallala Aquifer
Today’s conversation is about something the denim industry rarely wants to look at directly, and that’s water. Not recycled water in factories. Not marketing claims. But the groundwater that actually makes cotton possible in the first place.
Ep 51: If Everyone’s So Unhappy, Why Not Band Together?
A conversation with a friend about international politics turns into a simple question. If so much of the world is disturbed by the direction the United States has been taking, why doesn’t everyone just band together and try going it without th...
Ep 50: Putting Humanity Back Into Denim with Piero Turk
Andrew sits down with Piero Turk, a longtime friend from the old Italian denim days, when companies were small and you learned the business by doing everything yourself.For those who don’t know Piero, he’s a freelance designer who starte...
Ep 49: Commodity Power and Egypt's Textile Rise
Happy New Year. 2026 is here and Andrew starts the year with a reset on where real power lives in the textile world.He talks about the four major cotton traders: Louis Dreyfus, Cargill, Olam, and Ecom. Governments and sovereign wealth fu...
Ep 48: Rethinking Growth in Fashion with Shamin Vogel
This week, Andrew sits down with Shamin Vogel, editorial director and co-publisher of of WeAr Media Group—the people behind WeAr Global Magazine, one of the most widely read fashion trade publications in the world, and WeAr Denim
Ep 47: Portugal and the Long Game
This episode starts in 1975, just after Portugal’s Carnation Revolution. A dictatorship ends. No civil war. No collapse. Just a quiet reset and a country that suddenly has to figure out how to function without fear, hierarchy, or shortcuts....
Ep 46: Inside Denim Journalism with Sophie Bramel
Sophie Bramel is the technical editor at Inside Denim, and she watches the entire global denim ecosystem. Brands, mills, fibers, innovation, sustainability. All of it.In this conversation, Andrew and Sophie trace her path f...
Ep 45: What COP30 Actually Means
In this week’s episode of Andrew’s Take, Andrew breaks down COP30 in Belém, Brazil and why so many people still don’t know what COP is or why the world gathers every year to discuss climate goals that rarely materialize.He walks through ...
Ep 44: Building Jeans Worth Defending with Menno van Meurs
“If the supply chain isn’t something I can be proud of, the garment isn’t worth making.”— Menno van Meurs, Founder of Tenue de Nîmes and Tenue.Menno van Meurs runs one of the most respected denim stores in Europe, Tenu...
Ep 43: Are New U.S. Tariffs Even Legal?
In April, the White House called it Liberation Day. The apparel industry called it panic.Andrew breaks down what happened when decades of predictable duty rates got wiped out overnight. Global jeans suppliers were hit with numbers no one...
Ep 42: Fifty Years of Denim at Over the Rainbow with Joel and Daniel Carman
In 1975, Joel Carman opened Over the Rainbow with $2,000, a love of jeans, and no idea what he was doing. Fifty years later, Joel and his family run one of the longest-standing independent denim retailers in North America.Andrew...
