BLA opens London wash and innovation hub
Specialist jeansmaker Blackhorse Lane Ateliers (BLA) has inaugurated “the UK’s first environmentally innovative craft denim wash facility” inside its East London manufacturing facility, where it produces selvedge and organic raw denim jeans for both its eponymous BLA label and brands like Toast, Mr Porter and Studio Nicholson.
The new denim wash lab and innovation hub presents local brands and designers with the opportunity to reshore their denim research and development (R&D), potentially helping to slash related carbon emissions, while also opening its doors to the city’s students and other enthusiasts.
Owner Bilgehan “Han” Ates described creating a dedicated space for a unique ‘London’ aesthetic to blossom as his greatest ambition for the project. “We are very excited to be starting from a blank page,” he said.
“We have all that space to place and create, and whatever you play with and create with London know-how, will inevitably become a London or even UK aesthetic.
“Our assumption and beliefs are, when a London or British designer comes to a London wash technician, through their shared cultural experiences they will understand each other better, and encourage each other further, to create a more uniquely identifiable London or British aesthetic.”
Users of the lab will no longer need to 'play it safe' due to prohibitive costs or high order minimums, Mr Ates added, which he hopes will subsequently inspire them to peel back any external limits to their creativity.
Italian machinery developer Tonello’s G1 700 All-in-One wash system and THE Laser technology take centre stage at the site, backed by its Metro software, which helps control consumption within the laundry set-up in real time.
The Veneto-based company’s marketing and R&D director, Alice Tonello, travelled to the UK to attend the launch event in person, as did its sales director, Maurizio Morosini. Other notable industry supporters included British artist Ian Berry, who last month installed his largest-ever denim work, a four-by-ten-metre mural, inside Paris’ Place de la République in celebration of the 150-year anniversary of Levi’s 501 jeans.
Funding for the facility was secured via a sustainability-focused government innovation fund for science and creativity, together with University of the Arts London’s Centre for Circular Design.
Catch up with the centre’s laundry manager, Leanne Jae, in our latest Inside Denim dialogue here.
Image credit: BLA.
