London premiere for Denim Hunter
Denim enthusiasts and specialists gathered in London at the Mills Fabrica’s Kings Cross space for Denim Hunter’s London premiere, organised by Mohsin Sajid and Sadia Rafique from consultancy Endrime.
The documentary follows Viktor Fredbäck, who amassed a collection of hundreds of jeans that span from the 1870s to the 1970s, but was missing a pair to complete his timeline, from the 1880s.
Knowing that one of the most likely places he could find this era could be in one of the US’s thousands of disused mines – where workers discarded jeans owned by the mining companies - Viktor journeys from Sweden on an epic adventure, meeting a host of colourful characters along the way.
Following the film, Mohsin led a Q&A session with Viktor and film producer Emilio Di Stefano, who explained some of the background to the film, the reason vintage jeans are so sought after, and relayed more about the ‘denim hunter’ community in the US. Some 19th century items can fetch many thousands of dollars. Viktor also showed some rare items from his collection.
The screening was sponsored by Advance Denim, Prosperity Textiles, Stella Blu, Pioneer Denim, Circulose, Marmara Hemp, Hand Made Stone, Tencel and Carved in Blue.
Following the initial premiere at Amsterdam Denim Days and screenings in Sweden and New York, Denim Hunter will now be shown at the Bluezone event in Munich this week. In late January, it will debut worldwide on streaming platforms, including Apple TV.
Mohsin said: “Many others collect Levi’s, Lee or very obscure workwear brands from the 1870s-1890s, and many historians from brands only really look at their own histories. So getting an independent historian to make a film about the subject is very exciting.”
Image: Mohsin Sajid gets the lowdown from Viktor Fredbäck and Emilio Di Stefano
