Candiani is betting on Candiani Customs, its new project focused on offering a unique shopping experience while keeping attention on sustainability, craftsmanship, on-demand customization, proximity and Made in Italy.

The initiative is hosted in a new space adjacent to its Milan store Candiani Jeans in Piazza Mentana 3. It was opened in April 2021, in the middle of the pandemic emergency but was inaugurated only a few days ago.

The project consists of a complete microfactory that produces on-demand made-to-measure jeans. Customers can choose the denim they like best among a selection of eco-friendly Candiani Denim fabrics (including the 100% degradable and compostable stretch fabric Coreva Denim), sustainable trims, sewing threads and labels, and finished with environmentally friendly treating machines and chemicals. The project involves several Italian small and medium enterprises including FK Group, Sip Italy, Okinawa, Cadica, Nearchimica, Cervo Tessile, Riri-Cobrax and Rotondi, all expert insiders in their sector focused on reducing their impact.

Other partners such as MIC and Tonello have developed specific new solutions for this initiative. MIC, a sewing fabric manufacturer, has developed Megaflex, a special sewing thread obtained from wood pulp from controlled forests and made by 100% Tencel by Lenzing AG, a high tear-resistant and biodegradable fiber that can be dyed almost like cotton. Treating technology manufacturer Tonello participates in the project with, among others, a small-size laser machine and its O-Zone cabinet treatment through which it creates special effects on garments, while guaranteeing safe sanitization, cleaning and reduction of water consumption, among other benefits.

Alberto Candiani, president, Candiani Denim, explained the reasons behind this new project. After Milan’s Piazza Mentana store and the space selling jeans made with Coreva Denim jeans opening near Colonne di San Lorenzo, why is Candiani inaugurating another space offering custom-made jeans?
Each space has very specific characteristics. The Piazza Mentana store offers a selection of top-end brands using our denims. The second store near the Colonne di San Lorenzo was born as an installation meant to explain the most innovative technology of our sector and a dedicated space for hyping and communicating our special Coreva fabric and technology’s value at its best. As the final audience is ready to perceive the Candiani innovation, it needs to be involved, informed and educated about the solutions that the Italian value chain can already offer today through this other initiative.


What is this store offering?
It is based upon offering custom- and made-to-measure jeans. Here, every consumer can choose among four fits for men and four for women. They can choose among rigid or stretch denim only using Coreva, our 100% degradable and compostable fabric available in indigo, black or ecru. The first two fabrics are available in three washes (including gray) and ecru, which we are starting to dye, though need to be very careful as not all dyes are sustainable. In this case we are very firm in selecting natural or biosynthetic dyes only. We leave even more space for customization as the client can choose sewing threads, button, rivets, labels but also an inner label informing about color, composition of the fabric and similar aspects. Also, very important is the fact that the finishing of jeans is done here with the ambition to deliver it in one week from the order. Are all denims offered here only sustainable?
Yes, only. Stretch fabrics are only made with Coreva and organic cotton. The others are only made with organic cotton and the best dyeing techniques that meet well with the washing techniques we do here. We can recycle part of the water we use, even if our consumption of water is very low. We consider ourselves as a laundry that recycles as much as it can recycle, but our wastewater is totally clean because of the fabrics and technology we use. I can’t tell what percentage but the water we recycle is almost near to 50%. How much does a pair of jeans cost at retail?
From €250 to €450, according to the treatment they choose. We also offer a selection of selvedge denims, which also make a difference in terms of the final price. We are also considering the possibility to offer lighter weight fabrics for spring, which we will soon have to take into consideration.


Will you always offer the same styles, or will they also change with the passing of time?
We started offering three styles and have just added a fourth one, a chino. I think we will continue to include more models in order to meet our clients need for novelties. We haven’t started considering offering tops or jackets, as we are structured for offering five-pockets. What we might start doing could be a repair, an embellishment service. This can help to change one’s jeans image by adding embroideries, stitching or additional finishing and offer always new and creative solutions. How many pieces do you produce daily?
We produce three pieces a day (since April we have already sold 250 jeans). Our ambition would be to reach about four or five jeans a day in the future. In our production process we start from cutting that is managed by an intelligent software that once they define your measurements for a specific fit, the system stores all information in its database and once you return and want another item it can be replicated in different color or fabric variants. But everything starts from the cut.


Will it be possible to buy these jeans via the Internet in the next months?
We are working at it, and we will succeed in that in the future. At the moment we are focusing on the idea of store experience, cocooning the client and establishing a unique relationship with them. By now we like to speak about the fact we produce fabrics 37 kilometers from here, about sustainable innovation, but also about the long-time tradition of Candiani Denim as a Made in Italy fabric manufacturer–just as all other partners participating this project are. All are based nearby as the farthest company is based in Padua about 240 kilometers from here. Are you planning to eventually reproduce some similar initiative somewhere else?
It might be difficult, but I am not against it. It could be in Tokyo, LA or New York in some years. Obviously the problem is training personnel as this service requires very technically expert people.



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