Two years ago someone asked Victor Lytvinenko where he envisioned Raleigh Denim in five years. Victor said, “Well, we’d like to see our denim in Barneys.” Telling the story later, Sarah, his wife and co-founder of Raleigh Denim, said everyone looked at him like he was crazy. Less than a year later, Barneys, inspired by the attention to detail in each pair of jeans, placed an order and Raleigh Denim has been on a roll ever since, garnering national attention and support for its locally sourced, handcrafted denim.
The latest to feel the love for Raleigh Denim is Elle magazine, who, after meeting the designers a few months ago in New York, demanded a media exclusive on their product and their process. The feature will appear in the Oct. issue on page 212.
The Elle piece focuses on Americana. Sarah articulates what Americana means to Raleigh Denim: “I think the most American part of what we’re doing is the bootstrapping. It’s inherently American to have a dream, and to be able to build the means to follow that dream.”
Despite their national success, the pair remains devoted to Raleigh, its resources and its people. “Raleigh serves as our inspiration. We design here, create here and all of our materials are sourced within 200 miles of our studio. We’re lucky to have such rich resources, from raw materials to creativity, at our doorstep,” Victor said.
Their dedication to quality, craft and process is an inspiring reminder of our rich textile heritage. It also helps that they’re probably the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.
Victor will be speaking this Thursday at ideaSPARK at Marbles Museum and their work will hit the runway at fashionSPARK Friday on Fayetteville Street.
This will be Raleigh Denim’s third year participating in SPARKcon, the four-day arts and creativity festival in downtown Raleigh that includes ideaSPARK and fashionSPARK. This year they’ll be showing a full line of clothing at fashionSPARK, not just denim, and they couldn’t be more excited. According to Sarah, “It’s been a great year and we’re really excited about the progress we’ve made. We’ve had a perfect mix of national and local exposure and support. Right now, we’re focused on SPARKcon. It’s going to be amazing. SPARKcon connects and excites people in a way no other event does and we’re always thrilled to be part of that.”
Photo courtesy of Nick Pironio.
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