Andrew sits down with two people who lived through the denim business alongside him for years. Michael Morrell and Paul Ledgett were his partners at Olah Inc., and together they built something that worked because they gave a damn about the product, the people, and doing things right.
In this conversation, they go back. They talk about what it meant to run a denim agency in New York when the industry still cared about design and relationships. When you could shake hands on a deal and it meant something. When brands actually built brands instead of chasing the lowest price and calling it strategy.
But they also talk about what's happened since. The overcapacity. The sameness. The greenwashing that sounds good in a press release but falls apart the second you ask how it scales. Michael and Paul don't hold back, and neither does Andrew. They get into why sustainability only seems to work when someone else is paying for it, why most brands have lost the plot, and what it would actually take to make denim that means something again.
There's frustration here, sure. But there's also a vision for something better. And some very good stories along the way.
Michael Morrell
CEO of Western Hemisphere and Europe at Freedom Denim
Freedom Denim, LinkedIn, Instagram
Paul Ledgett
President North America at Diamond Denim by Sapphire
Diamond Denim by Sapphire, Instagram
For more stories that shape the future of denim, head to jeansland.co.
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