Tilmann Wröbel takes us on a historic trip to Morocco, to discover a laundry that places emphasis on skill and collaboration.

Morocco, Casablanca… In the early 1990s I managed a part of the design team at the French brand Chipie, a company that was famous for its creative denim developments. For those who know, it was the Chevignon / C-17 / Bonaventure / Big Star French denim era.

Jean-Michel Signoles, the iconic boss, asked us designers to try to start developing denim in Morocco. You have to remember that in those days, there were denim garment manufacturing facilities and laundries located next to our office in south of France. Worse, coming from a haute couture design background on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, the furthest I previously had to travel for developments was from the sixth floor to the first floor and back (using the elevator, of course!).

In Morocco in the 1980s and 90s, we felt like we were travelling the world when first flying there for denim manufacturing – with massive apprehension, completely doubtful of the denim laundry skills we would find. But (as well as Atlantic Denim with Dris and Leila), all we found were nice people, a lovely country and great food… if perhaps there was initially a lot to improve in terms of denim manufacturing. However, things would change quickly, transforming Morocco into one of the most skilful countries for denim developments.

Growing potential

During the 1980s, Monsieur Hamida Anwar was running a small laundry in the centre of Casablanca, specialising in cleaning blankets and garments of all kinds. He noticed the sudden potential for industrial denim developments in his country. Being a smart and well-connected business developer, he opened a small laundry outside of Casablanca, and started washing jeans.

Years later, his sons Mohamed and Hafid invested in the sustainable developments of what then became New Wash as we know it today. Thanks to the years of hard work, New Wash is one of Morocco’s largest integrated industrial groups for denim and sportswear, and has difficult-to-obtain certifications such as GOTS, OCS, OEKO-TEX and GRS. Like many Moroccan companies, the group has kept its great links to the French denim market and develops for IRO Denim, Kaporal Jeans and Sézane, but also washes and manufactures for famous brands from other countries including Spain and Germany.

Guiding lights

Almost three years ago, my team and I were in charge of the entire Kaporal denim range. We spent months in Morocco and had the opportunity to test and develop hundreds of washes with the New Wash team.

And why do I talk about the team? Well, because we had such a warm welcome, met so many nice, smiling people, who love what they do, that I feel I must highlight at least a few of them. Fatima and Lamine were our guiding lights in the big buildings of New Wash. Know-how and an open mind to fresh ideas were naturally in place.

We had a goal in the laundry not only to freshen up our client’s denim range, but also to achieve a maximum of sustainable washes. For this we had a wide variety of choices within the latest sustainable laundry equipment: Jeanologia lasers, Tonello infrared tumblers, Jeanologia E-Flow washing machines, ozone machines, sustainable chemicals, you name it – anything we needed to reduce the amount of chemicals and water involved. The laser bay became our headquarters, we had prepared templates and the Jeanologia lasers allowed us to create natural usage, as well as logos and graphics on urban jog-jeans.

Hand finishing

Even though the massive amount of new sustainable equipment was impressive, the huge bays with handmade finishes were just as impressive. When it comes to scrapings and usage or destroy parts, everything is handmade, none of the standard neoprene whisker stencils. Individuality and personality for each client are key. I didn’t count the – what seemed to me – hundreds of skilful workers, folding the ‘worn-in’ folds, preparing the jeans, the ladies grinding fabric, following the hand-drawn examples.

And then, when you are deep in your work, sweating and laughing, CEO Mohamed Anwar and general manager Hafid Anwar arrive, enjoy a great tea and Moroccan sweets, and check all the wash developments. Because these gentlemen are so down to earth and involved with the daily business of their factory. Lovely! 

Tilmann Wröbel is the founder of Monsieur-T, the ‘denim lifestyle’ studio. He started his career as a haute couture designer before moving into streetwear and denim. He has worked as a designer and consultant for some of the world’s top brands, and is based in Paris, France.

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