WORDS BY AMELIA BELL
A frustrating hunt for the perfect pair of vintage jeans led friends Sean Barron and Jamie Mazur to get creative. The result? RE/DONE — the sustainable LA-based label carving out a new identity for heritage brands by remixing vintage denim into perfectly fitting modern jeans. We spoke to RE/DONE co-founder Sean Barron to find out how it all began and what’s coming next...
Farfetch: Firstly, tell us where the RE/DONE story begins…
Sean: We began almost by accident. My partner said to me one day, ‘I really love all your vintage Levi’s, but it’s just so hard to find the right fit’. So for months we tried to take vintage denim apart and reconstruct it — it took us a while to work it out.
So how did you get your big break?
It was all very serendipitous... We launched online in 2014 with 200 pairs of jeans and a prayer. The original idea was to focus on individuality, so we shot lots of different girls, each wearing a totally unique pair of jeans. One girl brought Bella Hadid along, who at the time had a mere 100,000 followers — by the following week she was huge. We sold out online in 12 minutes!
Is individuality still a key concept for the brand?
Individuality is infused in everything we do. We love the idea of creating something unique by taking the amazing archival shapes of American heritage brands like Levi’s and moving them into the luxury, contemporary sphere.
What’s the secret to making RE/DONE jeans the perfect fit?
A lot of work! Each pair is made by hand in a very unique process: it has to be taken apart and cut separately with a pattern. So far, we’ve made 78,000 one by one, it’s kind of crazy.
What does sustainability mean to you?
When we started the company we thought, ‘We’re going to build a sustainable fashion brand’. Everyday this mission means more and more to us. We have limited our production range to a 15 mile radius, we use recycled packaging and part of our product is upcycled too.
And what do you think the future holds for sustainable fashion?
Every consumer is more aware of the importance of sustainability, so brands will have to get on board. The consumer, after all, is dictating what’s important and this cultural shift towards sustainability and mindfulness will have a huge impact on fashion.
Finally, can you give us a hint about your next project?
It involves a car… We can’t say too much yet, but we’re going to ‘redo’ a car for a well-known motor company. Watch this space!
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