Hiut, Candiani, Isko and Mohsin star in BBC documentary
10/01/2024
The programme follows presenter Gregg Wallace’s visits to Hiut in Cardigan and to Candiani in Northern Italy to learn about the journey from cotton bale to finished product.
Candiani produces 20 million square metres of denim fabric per year, enough to make 30 million pairs of jeans. Managing director Alberto Candiani and sustainability director Simon Giuliani take Mr Wallace on a tour of the factory, revealing how the fabric is made, through spinning, dyeing and weaving.
To learn about the history of jeans, Mohsin explains the fabric’s beginnings in Europe and its workwear heritage in the US, as well as about rivets, Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss.
Indigo historian Jenny Balfour-Paul notes how the earliest known use of indigo-dyed fabric was 6,200 years ago in Peru and how opening up trade routes lowered the price of imported indigo so it could be used to dye cloth, before the synthetic dye was created.
In Wales, Mr Wallace learns from the ‘grandmasters’, or expert jeansmakers, about cutting and sewing. Cardigan was previously home to the biggest producer of jeans in the UK, but it closed 20 years ago. It was opened again, and some of the previous staff reemployed, in 2012 by Clare and David Hieatt. The factory uses 18,000 square feet of denim every year, supplied by mills including Candiani.
Hiut is launching a training programme for new ‘grandmasters’, according to a social media post: “We hope [the programme] will help us expand our team so we can employ more people in our town. Not a lot riding on it then. Only everything.”
While most of Hiut’s jeans are unwashed, presenter Cherry Healey visited Isko’s Creative Lab in London to learn about fading and distressing via laser and ozone.
Mr Wallace concluded: “What an incredible journey, from cotton fields all over the world, to a denim mill in Italy and an artisan jeans factory in Wales. Amazing to think that from simple workwear, jeans became one of the most popular items of clothing in the world.”
The programme is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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