One of the world’s largest denim manufacturers is setting up shop in Europe’s denim hub.
On Monday, India’s textile-to-retail conglomerate Arvind Limited announced it has launched Arvind Denim Lab (ADL), a dedicated design, product development and innovation hub located inside Denim City, the denim education, lab and retail center in Amsterdam. Denim City is also the location for Denim Days Market, which will take place on Oct. 16-17.
ADL is Arvind’s first physical design and product presence in Europe and marks a significant milestone in the company’s strategy to “deepen engagement” with leading fashion brands across the continent.
By having a footprint in Amsterdam, Arvind will provide strategic access to Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia, France, Italy and Spain. The Levi’s and Gap supplier will be to support a wider array of clients with greater speed, flexibility and responsiveness to evolving market needs.
“The opening of ADL Amsterdam is part of our strategy to globalize our manufacturing and customer service footprint. We will continue to expand such presence across the continent of Europe and U.K. with the key focus of tapping the opportunity arising out of recently concluded [free trade agreements] in those geographies,” said Punit Lalbhai, Arvind Limited’s vice chairman.
ADL will bring together modern manufacturing capabilities with a focus on sustainability. The innovation hub will offer clients trend-led capsule collection development, co-creation workshops, wash development program. It will also house an “always-on” showroom and a sampling studio. Lalbhai added that ADL’s state-of-the-art platform for design and product development will promote advancement in denim innovation.
To support this initiative, Arvind recently named Imogen Nulty-Verstaeten design director for the EU. Nulty-Verstaeten previously served as Scotch & Soda’s global director for the denim division.
“Amsterdam is at the heart of Europe’s denim ecosystem and provides an ideal environment for customer collaboration and product innovation,” said Karan Ojha, CEO, wovens, head marketing COE, Arvind Limited. “The new hub enables us to work more closely with brands from the earliest stages of product development, helping translate ideas into commercially successful collections with greater speed and efficiency.”
