Meet Bryan Szabo – Founder of Indigo Invitational
Tell us about yourself.
Born and raised in Canada, I moved to Europe in 2013 to be with the Norwegian woman who is now my wife. I’m an editor and author by trade, but, in 2019, I started a small denim fading competition that quite quickly became the largest competition of its kind anywhere in the world. When I started the competition, selvedge denim was a casual hobby. Since then, denim and the style surrounding it have moved to the center of my life. I live in a small city in the south of Norway with my wife and our dog.
What was the reason behind creating the book The Rebel’s Wardrobe?
The original idea for the book was a kind of style manual for selvedge denim enthusiasts, but, as I began researching for the book, I found myself pulled in an entirely different direction. Each of the garments we looked at in the book (more than 40 of them—each with their own chapter) has a rich and interesting history. From American and French workwear to military pieces and sportswear, the origin stories of these pieces are compelling—especially when we look at how these pieces crossed the divide separating their functional origins and their cultural destination (i.e., how jeans, tee shirts, bomber jackets, etc. became cool).
What was your first pair of RAW denim?
I got my first pair of raw denim (a pair of Nudies) in 2010. I was immediately hooked on that journey that you can only get with raw denim. I got my second pair (Naked & Famous) on the day before I left Canada to go to Europe for the first time. I knew I would be gone for quite a while, so I planned to wear the pair every day until I got home. It was six months before I was in Canada again. The jeans got their first wash (very much needed) a day or two after I got back. This was the first time that I saw how far you could really go with a pair of raw jeans if you push them hard day after day for months on end.
How did you start Indigo Invitational, and how did you start working with Denimhunters?
In 2019, I had been wearing and fading raw denim for almost a decade. I had around five pairs on the go (three of them nicely faded and a couple of pairs that were just getting started). I joined the Raw Denim group on Facebook, and I noticed that everybody was showing off brand new pairs. I asked folks to show their best-faded pairs, but the common refrain that came back was “I have too many pairs to just fade one”. I proposed a fading competition that would help members of the group remain disciplined. The idea had been proposed in the group before, but nobody had really followed through. I started a Facebook page and, before long, brands were reaching out to me asking if they could contribute prizes. We started with around 115 competitors in Y1. Last year, we registered more than 1,500 competitors for Y4. Year Five starts on September 1st, and we’re hoping for 2,000 competitors from all over the world.
When the competition was still pretty new, a friend of mine connected me with Thomas Stege Bojer. We started collaborating on articles. He started Denimhunters in 2010, and he did a lot of hard work to establish himself as one of the leading authorities in the scene. He allowed me the opportunity to stand on his shoulders to reach his audience. I now write almost all of the content on Denimhunters, and we partnered on The Rebel’s Wardrobe.
What is your favorite pair of jeans in your personal collection?
It’s really hard to pick a favorite. I’m sentimentally attached to that first pair of Naked & Famous that I brought to Europe with me, but the pairs that I’ve faded in each running of the Indigo Invitational are also really special to me. I can give you a podium of three pairs. The Iron Heart 777-142 that I faded last year, the Oldblue Heavyweight Beasts that I faded the year before, and the pair of Big John Rare 009s that I’ve been wearing in between competitions. For Year Five, I’ve worked with a Thai brand, Piger Works, to produce my first-ever collaboration pair. I’ll be fading them in the competition, and it’s likely that, since I designed them myself, they’ll challenge for a spot on my personal podium.
What are your thoughts on Selvedge Denim?
Briefly, I think it’s absolutely essential for anybody who cares about what they wear and regularly wears jeans. Once you get to the end of the road with a pair and see what kind of fades you can produce, there’s no turning back. Once you’ve had it, you’ll turn up your nose at everything else. It’s not about snobbery; it’s just about that experience that only raw denim can provide. I can describe that experience to you, but you won’t fully understand until you’ve experienced it for yourself.
What are your first thoughts on KATO and about our 4-way stretch denim in 17.5oz mammoth?
My KATOs are still my only pair that aren’t 100% cotton. I was skeptical about stretch denim, but I don’t like to think of myself as closed-minded, so I gave it a shot. I was very pleasantly surprised. I’d come to accept that a certain amount of discomfort was baked into the raw denim experience, but the Mammoth Selvedge showed me that I could get that full raw denim experience with a high-performance stretch product. Especially for those who want to ease their way into the raw denim scene, experimenting with heavy denim and made-to-fade selvedge, the Mammoth Selvedge is an excellent way to break into raw denim without any of that discomfort that scares a lot of newcomers away from the scene.
Can you share your insights on starting a fade journey?
The best advice I can give is to grab a pair (something in the range of 13-18 oz. will be great if it’s your first time) and join the competition. We always have a ton of folks joining us on the starting line who are entirely new to the raw denim concept. In the Indigo Invitational, that experience of fading is shared with a huge community of enthusiasts at every imaginable level. You can gauge your progress against some of the best faders in the world and other newcomers. If you’re able to make it across the line 365 days later, I’ll bet dollars to donuts that you’ll be excited to start your next fade journey. Every year of the competition is a voyage of discovery (even for the old-timers); we all learn from each other and egg each other on to produce our best-ever fades. If, by the time you’re reading this, the competition has already started, join the community as an observer and start thinking about that perfect pair for the next competition.