Denim brand Benzak Denim Developers have teamed Cultizm and Robin Denim to bring us the BDD x CULTIZM x ROBIN DENIM fading contest.
When I was first getting into raw denim, it was the Forums where one went to get schooled in denim lore. Superfuture, Iron Heart Forum, My Nudies, Style Sight and so on were crammed full of the denim 101, useful tips and tricks, and not a little bitching and moaning. They were also the places that spawned fading contests.
Fading What?
A fading contest is basically this. A bunch of denimheads get together and see who can get the sickest fades in a pre determined amount of time.
These fading contests took on any number of guises. Whether it be one specific brand with one specific jean, a pre defined weight class or just a general free-for-all. More often than not, however, what would start with great fervour and enthusiasm would peter out over the one or two years and only a die hard few would see the finish line. It’s sad because these contests were a great way to get involved with the denim community, but as the popularity of the forums faded, so did the fading contest.
Back to Life
From August 1st, three well-respected names in the denim community will do their very best to breathe life back into the fading contest.
Denim brand Benzak Denim Developers have teamed up with the online Mecca for denim Cultizm and denim blogger, Robin Denim to bring us the BDD x CULTIZM x ROBIN DENIM fading contest.
Denim Details
Benzak Denim Developers will produce a specific pair of jeans for the contest which is available exclusively through Cultizm. Lennaert from BDD has given considerable thought to the fit, fabric and features for this special pair.
- Style: B-01 Slim
- Fit: Slim fit – Tapered leg – Mid rise
- Color: Indigo
- Material: 100% cotton
- 15 oz. Kojima contest selvedge from Collect
- Sanforized
- Right-hand twill
- Hidden 6th pocket
- Vegetable tanned leather patch with special contest artwork
- Heavy duty stitching (cotton-poly core-spun)
- 100% aluminium buttons
- Made in Portugal
Limited Run
The competition will be limited to 50 contestants, all wearing the same jeans, the same fit, same production run and fabric. This really will be a chance to see how the lifestyle, size, shape and even geographical location of the wearer will influence the fading.
At the heart of it, this is just a good ol’ fashioned fading contest, what is interesting is the involvement of both Cultizm and Robin Denim. Both will bring a legitimacy and considerable weight to the curation of the content throughout the year long contest and will hopefully spur on the contestants to see out the entire year.
The prizes are likely to help also, with the overall winner getting 1000 Euros in store credit at Cultizm, the second place 500 and the third 250.
As Easy as That
The barriers to entry are also pretty low. The jeans will run you a very reasonable 199 Euros and, other than that, all you need is an Instagram account and the presence of mind to post pics of your jeans once a month at least.
Robin will then sort through the images, choosing the best 10 and feature them on his site. Hopefully, the chance to be featured on Robin Denim will spur people on to get creative with their content.
The essence of a fading contest should be cat nip to denimheads, and this slightly new tac on the execution will hopefully feed our love for fades over the next year. Pre orders will start on August 1st and run until the 31st. The contest itself will kick off on November 1st running until October 1st, 2018.
More info can be found over on Robin Denim and if you want to get up close and personal with the love and attention put into a pair of Benzak jeans, check out the BDD website.
