Only two weeks to go to GenovaJeans 2023! From October 5th to 8th, the Ligurian city will host the international jeans community to shape a responsible and innovative future for the production and design of this iconic garment, starting from its past and tradition.
Jean fabric is back in Genoa to “go along with new generations toward a future made of awareness and responsibility”
GenovaJeans comes from a project by Manuela Arata, president of the organizing committee. The event is produced by Comune di Genova and curated by Anna Orlando, who explained: “Genoa starts again from its history to go along with new generations toward a future made of awareness and responsibility. It does it with jeans at its core since it is their city of origin, and while being aware that the popularity of their fabric naturally goes along with inclusivity. So, GenovaJeans has ambitious goals and wants to meet them with a well-structured edutainment program. It goes beyond the event and the four days when it happens thanks to its cultural consequences, where culture means past and future, history and new life together”.
“I think everyone knows what jeans are, a fabric born in our city. We have to do so that the duo Genoa and Jeans is increasingly known worldwide. This is our goal. During these months, we have found great support at an international level too, meaning that our city is more and more attractive from this point of view. For four days, Genoa will turn into a melting pot of producers, designers, and consumers from the fashion world and will offer dozens of events to citizens and tourists to have fun with performances, shows, concerts, and art installations. A huge, totally updated event, which represents only a tiny part of the ambitious GenovaJeans project”, said Marco Bucci, mayor of Genoa.
“What we call Genoa Re-evolution starts from two principles: a production respecting environment and workers and the reuse of fabrics and components. It is a great chance to start with a strong fabric such as jeans, which has then always been ‘recyclable’, and we are lucky to do this in the city where its roots are, which has circularity in its DNA. In front of this new industrial – and business model – revolution, we thought that the jeans community could benefit from a place of design and best practices to innovate, also engaging research”, stated Manuela Arata.
GenovaJeans 2023 involves brands, emerging talents, and the Italian denim supply chain
We are partners of GenovaJeans to honor the past and future of our fabric in the city where it was born. To support the event’s cultural, educational, and artistic values, we donated the canvas Genoa used to tell new, exciting stories through denim-focused artworks, installations, and workshops.
GenovaJeans will happen in the city’s historic city center, which aims to become a reference for the entire jeans community, including producers and designers, but also users. Thanks to the synergies with heritage brands and companies in the supply chain, emerging talents will have the opportunity to represent the change occurring in the industry, making everyone, starting with final users, more aware of the importance of sustainability and responsibility.
Heritage brands, new talents, and Italian suppliers will create, hence, some collective exhibitions in three important locations in the Ligurian capital. At Biblioteca Universitaria, heritage brands (Blue Blanket, Diesel, IMjiT35020 di Manuel Canova, Incotex Blue Division, Mud Jeans, Pepe Jeans, Roy Roger’s, Stefano Chiassai, Tela Genova) will tell the history, development, and best practices of jeans. New talents (Andrea Grossi, Blue Of A Kind, Gilberto Calzolari, Gimmijeans, Jeanne Friot, Marcello Pipitone with Albiate 1830, Ksenia Schnaider, Zerobarracento) will present their eco-design strategies at Edificio Metelino. The former Oratorio of San Tommaso will host suppliers (Albiate 1830 - Albini Group, Pure Denim with Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei, Cadica, Candiani Denim, Circulose®, Officina39, ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei, Soko Chimica, Tencel™, Tonello, YKK Italia) to represent all the production steps. Via di Pré, renamed Jeans Street, will be home to Jeans Lab.
Moreover, many exhibitions will be set up all around Genoa. At Edificio Metelino, ArteJeans 2023. Il filo blu dell’arte contemporanea will display about 50 artworks made by Italian and international artists using our fabrics and donated to the city between 2020 and 2023. The journey Alle radici del jeans at MEI – National Museum of Italian Emigration at Commenda di Pré will explain the Genoese origins of jeans and their evolution over the centuries. The artwork Garibaldi in jeans by Ian Berry, an English artist who uses denim, will be exhibited at the Museum of Risorgimento with the documents highlighting how Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Mille wore jeans. Teli della Passione will be at Diocesan Museum. Finally, art installations, performances, talks, and conferences will take up historic buildings and the historic center.
Here is a gallery of the last edition:
