Italian counter culture clothes brand Diesel is associated with denim fabric. Diesel, founded by now billionaire Renzo Rosso in the late seventies, is famous for going against the grain and controversy. Not only did it introduce manufactured wear and tear in denim jeans, but bet that the US market would be willing to pay premium prices for brand new, vintage looking jeans. In 1986, when the most expensive pair of jeans in the US – by Ralph Lauren – cost $52, Diesel’s cheapest pair was priced at $100.
The wild child of the fashion world however has come a long way since its denim origins. It is now a lifestyle brand that hawks everything from watches and jewellery, eyewear, fragrances and helmets, to headphones, bikes, strollers and household furniture. Yet denim remains at the core of its identity, an insight that led to Sri Lankan apparel manufacturer Emjay Penguin to conceive and create – with the help of a Chinese mill – a denim doppelganger fabric that would allow Diesel to retail denim underwear. The new Diesel underwear, available for men and women, doesn’t feel like denim nor wear like denim, it just looks like the inside of a pair of denim jeans.
The range, now called ‘under denim’, spans from boxers, briefs, t-shirts and lounge wear for men, to bras, tanks and panties for women including v-paneling, mesh insertions and of course the logo waistband. Retailing as one of Diesel’s core ranges for the Spring/Summer 2016 season, it is available in dark blue, light blue, black and grey.
Under denim is a good match for Diesel’s rebellious style: figure clinching, derriere sculpting and made to be seen over low-riding jeans. Channa Silva, the Manager of Sourcing and Procurement at Emjay Penguin, sourced fabric that looks like denim and has a somewhat similar texture, but isn’t.
Fabrics fall into two basic categories: knit and woven. Knit fabrics are when one continuous yarn is looped repeatedly (or knitted) and looks like minute rows of braids. Woven fabrics are when multiple yarns are woven, crossing each other at right angles creating a basket weave pattern. This is why knit fabrics stretch and regain shape after being crushed, and excessive stretching will cause a run to form, and why woven fabrics hardly have any stretch at all, wrinkle easily and fray at the edges.
Knits are usually much softer and breathable than woven. However, woven fabrics like stretch denim or stretch poplin have spandex woven into them to give them some stretch. Denim is a twill woven cotton fabric, so its coarseness makes it unsuitable for underwear.
[pullquote]Enthusiastic initial customer feedback, together with the level of brand match, has resulted in Diesel picking the under denim line for Autumn/Winter 2016 as well[/pullquote]
The Emjay Penguin team initially attempted using indigo dye (which gives denim its characteristic blue jeans hue) to create the appearance of denim, but the dye process utilizes substances that would not be suitable for clothing worn so close to sensitive skin, not to mention its low colour fastness (resistance to the fabric’s colour bleeding). They then opted for a cotton-polyester blend.
Cotton absorbs moisture, and is a preferred material for humid climates and under garments. Polyester, on the other hand, is moisture resistant and traps the moisture against the skin. Unlike cotton, it also doesn’t feel as soft to the touch.
Coolpass – a new innovation from clothing technology company Herock at the time of sourcing – is a 100% polyester that is a breathable microfibre that transposes moisture from the inner side to the outer, allowing you to feel warm
in winter and cool during summer. Under denim fabric is, therefore, a polyester, cotton and spandex blend – 50%, 40% and 10%, respectively – that feels soft (due to the cotton) and has stretch due to the spandex, and fits right.
Emjay Penguin, created following the merger of leading apparel manufacturer Emjay International and Penguin Sportswear, has been in business since 2010. Headquartered in Colombo, they have four production facilities in Kandy that produce underwear, outerwear, active wear and night wear exclusively in knit fabrics for high and low level brands including Hugo Boss, Levi’s, La Perla, Armani, H&M, Helly Hanson, Merrell, George, Gap and Old Navy. They are also the largest supplier of womens wear essentials to Tesco.
Diesel, in industry speak, is a “fashion oriented” brand, according to Shazri Hameed, Assistant Manager of Merchandising at Emjay Penguin, who handles the account and heads the team that conceived the idea. “It requires a lot of value addition and innovation, and is a tough account to handle.” He credits the Diesel account – now going on its eighth year – for helping to attract a number of other even bigger names in their roster. “We are the only company in Sri Lanka that handles Diesel and Hugo Boss,” he says proudly.
Enthusiastic initial customer feedback, together with the level of brand match, has resulted in Diesel picking the under denim line for Autumn/Winter 2016 as well — albeit using an improved – softer – fabric that includes prints, and it has even been submitted for Spring/Summer 2017. If picked for a third season as well, it would be a huge fillip for the organization and the industry here.