Tom Cridlands Half Century Jeans Designed For 50-Year Life Span
Tom Cridlands Half Century Jeans Designed For 50-Year Life Span

Tell us about the brand Half Century Jeans's inception. How this brand is different from the regular denim brands that we see in the market? Also tell us about product categories, so you also operate in kids' space?

The Half Century Jeans, crucially, differs from many regular denim brands that you see in the market in the sense that, rather than focusing on trends, we are completely focused on just durable denim is and how we can use that to make the fashion industry more sustainable. We are at a crucial point, not just in this industry but globally in general, when it comes to climate change and getting real. We need brands that make sustainability appealing to consumers. Today, consumers just want to feel unique, hence the rise of Instagram and other social media platforms and, bizarrely, fast fashion, where having a cheap, new outfit every day for your #OOTD post reassures many people that they really are different and special. The Half Century Jeans are unique without needing to be replaced. Denim evolves and, perhaps more than with any other garment, these jeans will grow to become uniquely yours over the next fifty years. 

The brand vouches 50 years of durability which seem impossible in the real world. Tell us how it is possible? Also these days Fast fashion is in rage where fashion retailers such as H&M, Zara are launching new ranges almost every month, so what is your strategy to convince the consumers to buy a product just based on the longevity feature?

Our ethos saves you money, offers you the best quality denim money can buy and helps protect the environment. Your clothing lasts a long time but there are more benefits to the Half Century Jeans that longevity. 

How do you see overall fashion industry can be benefitted with textile recycle mechanism? And how the brands can encourage customers to buy sustainable lines? What is your strategy to educate the customers? 

There is a lot of scope for innovation when it comes to recycling. We’re working on a way of offering consumers new clothing every month using recycled textiles, satisfying their desire for fast fashion, whilst being sustainable. That, however, is a story for another day! We educate consumers by treating them with the respect they deserve. We lay out exactly why fast fashion is bad for the economy, for the planet and its people in general. We then lay out why garments like the Half Century Jeans are a sustainable solution but also a more cost effective, better quality one. 

Kindly shed light on your current distribution in online as well as offline space( nationally as well as internationally). Do you also have your retail stores or plan to? Overall what are the strategies to scale up the distribution?

We sell direct to consumer from tomcridland.com. We have had a pop up in London on the King’s Road in 2016 and we are open to future bricks and mortar pop ups. We are, however, committed to online, direct to consumer retail, which allows us to scale as we need to, whilst continuing to offer fair pricing the our customers.

Who do you see as your competition within the same space?

I don’t see ourselves in competition with anyone, to be honest with you. We’re not driven by insatiable corporate greed. We love what we do and we welcome other sustainable fashion brands, and we try to learn from them.

According to you, what are the major challenges as far as denim retailing is concerned?

Many people tend to shop for staples like jeans either from fast fashion retailers or from longstanding denim retailers, such as Levi’s, so it’s a challenge to present a case to consumers for trying the Half Century Jeans but it’s one we’re relishing.

At last, kindly highlight your growth plans? 

We will launch a collection of sustainable footwear this summer.

 

 

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