I got to sit down with Maiken from Wildrootz Denim on a warmish March afternoon to talk a little bit about her line, how she got started and her process! We sat outside (basically on the street) eating Mexican food trying to yell over the seemingly endless buzzy mopeds and loud ass city buses roaring by.
If you haven’t seen these jeans, do yourself a favor, they are SO SPECIAL. Wildrootz is the epitome of Slow Fashion. Maiken does the laborious work of sourcing old jeans (saving them from the landfill!), taking them apart and then putting them back together in a well made, quirky yet very cool style. Wildroots philosophy is simple - TRUE SUSTAINABLE STREETWEAR - Unisex style, movement without restrictions and freedom to play.
The most perfect interview for Earth Day! Read on to learn more about Wildrootz and then run and order a pair.
Merica: We've talked a little bit about this, but if you could tell me where you're from and your background.
Maiken: So I'm from Denmark. I grew up in a small town called Aarhus (Århus), with my mom and dad and brothers in the countryside. It was pretty good! We did a lot of gardening on the weekends. We had a massive vegetable garden!
Merica: So cool.
Maiken: That was really how my childhood was spent. We traveled in the Summers, like camping trips and stuff like that, It was pretty low-key... So my mom would make all our outfits and she would knit everything for us-
Merica: Oh my gosh.
Maiken: Hand-knitted sweaters, all homemade- But not super fancy stuff: Jogging pants, sweatshirts, knitted sweaters, and patched up jeans.
Maiken: So that was really where it started. Yeah.
Merica: Yeah. And do you knit?
Maiken: I do. Yeah. So I have a degree in knitwear. I'm a knitwear designer. I also hand-knit. That's why it makes so much sense that I'm making denim now, haha. But that's my background. Yeah. I have a degree in womenswear, specializing in knitwear.
Merica: How do we define knitwear?
Maiken: Anything knitted, really.
Maiken: Denim is woven and knitwear is knitted with needles. Imagine fabric that is sort of stretchy like a sweater.
Merica: So what would knitwear production look like then? If denim is woven on looms, what would making a sweater look like?
Maiken: With actual knitting machines. So it's a knitting factory with sort of sewing machines for knitwear called linkers. They’re round so it sews in a circle. Have you ever seen one?
Merica: No…. I know nothing. lol.
Maiken: I did a lot of woven fashion before I started knitwear. So yeah, when I started making denim, it was a lot of trial and error…. a lot.
Merica: I bet, I fucking bet.
Maiken: But actually, I think I tried making my first pair of jeans when I was maybe 10.
Merica: Oh my gosh, that is so cute.
Maiken: I used my mom's sewing machine, and I literally just put the jeans on top of the fabric and cut around it, like doubled it up. I couldn't understand why I couldn't put them on haha.
Maiken: So that's how I started. I was also sewing a lot of stuff for my dolls.
Maiken: Anyway, I think from all the gardening and hikes and camping trips and stuff when I was little really helped me develop an appreciation for that aesthetic, you know with workwear and the durability of the garments.
Merica: Makes so much sense.
Maiken: Yeah. And that it's made with a purpose and built to last.
Merica: Yeah. And then just to mend as needed, which I think denim is the perfect material for that!
Maiken: Oh, yeah, It's just ingrained in me, it's not something I even think about much. It's not a decision I made. You know?
Merica: I love that. I love that, because that's just how you were brought up.
Maiken: I couldn't do anything else, I think.
Merica: That makes so much sense. So we talked a little bit about this when I met you at your studio, but can you talk about how you came to make these pieces? You had said that you started making them for your son?
Maiken: Yeah. I started making kidswear, and I just thought it would be cute, baggy jeans for kids.
Merica: Oh, I love it.
Maiken: And the knee patches are just taken straight out of my childhood. I love that kind of '70s, '80s feel. You know?
Merica: Absolutely.
A pair of Wildrootz jeans
Maiken: So I made jeans for my son, and for my daughter later on, and then almost everybody was just like, "I want a pair," you know, like for grownups.
Merica: They're really fucking cool.
Maiken: I was like “I’ll try making the kids style for grownups," with the elasticated waist-
Merica: I love it.
Maiken: Because I was too lazy to get properly into it, I was like, "Can I really do this elastic waist for adults? But, that didn't work.
Merica: Really?
Maiken: No, that looked so bad. So I went back and I was like, "Okay, I really have to learn how to do this." So then I just sat down and started making flys with zippers and waistbands and-
Merica: Oh my god. Did you know how to do that already?
Maiken: No. I just kind of started looking at videos, and trying.
Merica: God bless you. That's so cool.
Maiken: At first, I made a bunch of mistakes, but then I really nailed it. Of course, I had done a zipper before when I was in college, but since I specialized in knitwear, I didn't do so much of all that stuff. So I just had to remind myself about pattern cutting and grain lines and all of that.
Merica: Oh my god.
Maiken: The knitwear background gave me, not disrespect, but disregard for rules.
Merica: Punk rock.
Maiken: All my pieces are made from old jeans, so I honestly just put my pattern pieces on where they will fit, because I have to cut around a bunch of holes and stains and stuff like that. So wherever I can fit it- so some of the pieces are like completely cut on the bias. And that's how it is. That's why they come out so different.
Merica: I love knowing that inside scoop.
Pieces of Wildrootz jeans before they are assembled
Maiken: So yeah, I have my own way of doing it, so it's not really like “denim”-
Merica: I know, but that “denim stuff” can sometimes be boring and nerdy.
Maiken: No, I love that too. I really appreciate that as well. It's just different to what I'm doing now.
Maiken: Although sometimes it really can have a sort of snobbery attached to it.
Merica: Totally.
Maiken: But I also appreciate the focus on craftsmanship denimheads can have.
Merica: Well, anyways there are basically no denim mills in America anymore. I think there’s one big Mill in Georgia called Mount Vernon Mills. And a few smaller mills with no wash house attached etc.
Maiken: A mill, where denim is woven? I thought it was a thing of the past!
Merica: Okay, I’m very curious about your process. But, from the very beginning, like how you find your denim you're going to work with, etc.
Maiken: Yes. So I started with the kidswear.
Maiken: I use a lot of wool, and cashmere and denim so I just contacted this warehouse that’s a collection point. You know how you can donate all your unwanted clothes to those donation boxes? Well it gets collected, and taken to these warehouses where they sort it out in different grades. I mean, a lot of it goes to landfill.
Maiken: And some of it, they sell, mainly to third world countries. Where it basically becomes our dumping ground, right? It's terrible.
Merica: Yeah.
Maiken: Because then it's bought, and sold to these places where they are sold at big markets, I think, cheap and then usually end up in the trash anyway.
Merica: ugh.
Maiken: It's terrible. It's so sad. And that's just our over-consumption, right?
Merica: Yes. Oh my gosh.
Maiken: So I go out there, and I've been really lucky. They'd just be like, "Okay, there's that little scavenger.”
Merica: Little scavenger. lolz.
Maiken: So most of it I couldn't use, but I went through it and it's a lot of work.
Merica: Oh, no.
Maiken: A lot of shit. It's really not fun.
Maiken: But I go out there and I find the pieces that I can use, and then bring it home straight to the laundry, where I wash and dry everything, and then take it up to the studio.
Maiken will scavenge through this pile of jeans
Merica: What are your rules for the denim that you're going to use? What are your guidelines?
Maiken: So I try to only use 100% cotton pieces. 90% of the denim I go through is this horrible, limp, stretched out fast fashion.
Merica: I know. It's depressing.
Maiken: And it's going to the landfill.
Maiken: I can't use it. I wish.
Merica: It's so shitty.
Maiken: So 100% cotton, or if it's like a really good color, or if it’s a really good texture. If it has just 1% stretch and it’s cool, I'll save it and use them for details, like a knee patch or a pocket. If it's a really good color or print or texture, then I'll save them, and they'll come home with me. But mainly 100% cotton, that's really my aim.
Merica: And when you go, how many pair of jeans can you roughly make from one trip of salvaging or sourcing?
Maiken: I don't know, sometimes I've been out there and I come back with like 20 pairs of jeans, and sometimes I've been lucky and I've come home with like 200 pairs of jeans! But, I think... And I don't know for sure, but I would say for one pair of my jeans, I probably use denim from maybe five different pairs of jeans, but that doesn't mean I use five pairs of jeans in one pair of jeans. I would say maybe I cut up four pairs of jeans when I make one, and the rest of them goes into the next pair.
Maiken: And with the scraps that I have, I make little patchwork pillow cushions, Bedspreads or whatever. Yeah. I thought I should maybe start to do the netted farmers market bags, because I definitely have small pieces that I don't use.
Merica: Very cool.
Maiken: So for the scraps that I can’t use, there's this place that I can donate to, I have to cut out all the buttons and zippers, but they use fabric waste to make insulation for buildings.
Merica: Yeah. Very cool.
Maiken: My production is so so small that it's just a big project to organize.
Merica: Do you have pattern pieces that you lay out and then you kind of match the jeans to the pattern pieces to see what you can get?
Maiken: Yeah. So I cut up the denim, and then depending if it's like a huge pair of denim, or very narrow it will always be different where I can put the pattern pieces.
Merica: So time consuming.
Maiken: Oh my god, the prep takes way longer than sewing. Once I'm ready, and I have all the pieces cut and they're ready to sew, it also of course takes time, but that's kind of more just mechanical, it's the same every time. Right? But another thing that nobody would think about is when I use the old denim, sometimes the side seam...
Maiken: It's super thick.
Merica: ohhhh
Maiken: Yes, so then I have to dig that out. I have to, in order to sew them all back together, I have to kind of dig it out.
Merica: Oh ya because your machine won't go over it.
Maiken: Right, so I have to almost gut it.
Merica: Yeah.
Maiken: Gut the seams a little bit to make them thinner, so that I can make them way thick.
Merica: Those seams look so cool, you gotta use the seams!
Maiken: Yeah. It's so awesome because they're different. Right? There's so many different jeans in one pair, so it's nice to see-
Merica: It's so cool.
Maiken: I love when you can see the traces from like a wallet in a back pocket or like a lighter or.... I always think about like, "Where were these jeans before? Who was wearing them?"
Maiken: And then I put all these stories together!
Merica: Oh, I love that.
Maiken: I really love that too. It's like a story that continues instead of landing In the landfill.
Merica: Oh my god. It's true. You have a part in that. You're making this beautiful, new story and it continues when somebody decides to buy a pair and wear the crap out of them!
Maiken: Yeah, I think that's really fun to think about, like it's all about history and the future.