Claim OwnershipJeansland Podcast
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© 2025 Jeansland Podcast
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This is why I do this. Jeansland is a podcast about the ecosystem in which jeans live. There are an estimated 26 million cotton farmers around the world, and about 25% of their production goes into jeans, which could mean 6.2 million farmers depend on denim. I read estimates that at least 1 million people work in retail selling jeans, and another 1.5 to 2 million sew them. And then there are all the label producers, pattern makers, laundries, chemical companies, machinery producers, and those that work in denim mills. I mean, the jeans industry, which is bigger than the global movie and music business combined, employs a lot of human beings. And many of them, like me, love jeans. The French philosopher and existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, when visiting New York, said, "Everyone in the New York subway is a novel." I never met her, but I guess she made the observation because of the incredible diversity of people who ride the subway system. I'm convinced the people in our jeans industry are like those in the subway. They are unique, with rich and complex stories to tell, and I want to hear them. And deep inside me, I think you might feel the same way.
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42 Episodes
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In 1975, Joel Carman opened Over the Rainbow with $2,000, a love of jeans, and no idea what he was doing. Fifty years later, Joel and his family run one of the longest-standing independent denim retailers in North America. Andrew sits down with Joel and Daniel to talk about what it takes to survive five decades in retail—from the early days when Joel was making $15 a day and driving a cab at night, to the decision to go premium in 2000, and how the internet became their best marketing tool wi...
If a corporation were a person, what kind of person would it be? Andrew revisits the 2003 documentary The Corporation, which diagnosed the modern company as a psychopath. No empathy, no remorse, no conscience. Just profit with zero regard for human cost. He applies that lens to denim. Chasing cheaper wages. Blue-washing sustainability while underpaying the people who make the jeans. The 2020 sequel's message? The corporation hasn't changed. It's just evolved from overt sociopathy to charming ...
James McKinnon runs a 72-year-old family textile business in South Carolina. He's third generation. He sits on the Cotton Board, advises the USDA on cotton standards, and he'll tell you straight up that U.S. textiles are fighting some incredibly strong headwinds. But he also thinks it's a fight worth fighting. In this conversation, Andrew and James dig into what it takes to keep American textile manufacturing alive. They talk about supply chain innovation, why sitting on your hands expecting ...
Jeans have long been seen as the uniform of freedom. But if freedom is what we're selling, what's the truth behind the people making them? In this solo episode, Andrew looks at two global scorecards, one for freedom and one for happiness, across the 11 countries that produce most of the world's denim. The results aren't comfortable. China ranks third worst in the world for freedom. Egypt is eighth worst. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, all near the bottom. And most of these countries also rank ...
Andrew sits down with two people who lived through the denim business alongside him for years. Michael Morrell and Paul Ledgett were his partners at Olah Inc., and together they built something that worked because they gave a damn about the product, the people, and doing things right. In this conversation, they go back. They talk about what it meant to run a denim agency in New York when the industry still cared about design and relationships. When you could shake hands on a deal and it meant...
The denim industry runs on water. But most of the places we make jeans don’t have enough of it. In this short, Andrew breaks down what happens when cotton, sewing, and finishing all depend on freshwater we can’t afford to lose. Countries like Canada have 74,000 cubic meters of water per person. Bangladesh? Just 635. Yet we keep building supply chains in places with the least to spare. Even rainfed cotton gets risky when the rains stop coming. Andrew asks a simple question: where’s the plan? W...
One question froze Romain Narcy in his tracks fifteen years ago: "Do you know the environmental impact of making jeans?" He didn't. That moment sent him on a path from running suitcase sales trips across France to building one of Turkey's greenest denim factories to joining the steering committee of the Denim Deal. Their goal? One billion jeans made with recycled cotton by 2030. Sounds ambitious. Romain thinks it's doable. But only if brands stop pretending they understand their supply chains...
Big news in denim: Artistic Milliners of Karachi has taken a majority stake in Cone Denim, one of America’s most storied mills. From its 1891 roots in Greensboro, NC, to powering Levi’s 501s, Cone’s history now collides with one of the most ambitious players in the industry. Andrew breaks down what this deal means for global supply chains and why, even together, Artistic and Cone make up just one percent of denim worldwide. Is this the start of a new model, or just another big gamble? Please ...
This week on Jeansland, Andrew sits down with Indian journalist Subir Ghosh for a clear-eyed look at how sustainability narratives often miss the mark. Subir challenges the fashion industry’s fixation on circularity, calling it more of a marketing loop than a real solution. He explains why cotton farmers in India remain under immense pressure, why worker struggles beyond the sewing floor go largely unnoticed, and how global fashion summits recycle the same conversations without meaningful res...
Andrew rewinds to 1980 in this solo short. Cotton has been priced at 80-cents a pound ever since, while everything else (burgers, beef, coffee, gas) keeps inflating honestly. Farmers work harder for the same pay, garment workers get pushed offshore to 60-cent wages, and polyester quietly takes over as “oil in disguise.” Jeans don’t get cheaper because of efficiency. They get cheaper because the system is stacked against the farmer, the worker, and the planet. Listen to this episode short and ...
This week, Andrew digs into the future of fiber with Mark D’Sa, Senior VP at Panda Biotech. After decades sourcing for brands like Ralph Lauren, Gap, and Levi’s, Mark is now betting on U.S.-grown industrial hemp. He explains why hemp matters for American farmers facing water shortages and soil stress, how Panda’s cottonization process makes hemp soft and fully compatible with cotton, and why the sweet spot for denim blends is around 20–30 percent hemp. Mark also shares how Wrangler, Lee, and ...
In this solo short, Andrew swerves away from denim to call out one of the most stubborn materials on earth: Styrofoam. After a hospital stay in Houston where every meal arrived on trays of squeaky white foam, he asks why a substance banned in 62 countries is still so common in the United States. Cotton biodegrades. Polyester eventually breaks down. Styrofoam never dies. It just crumbles into microplastics that sit in our landfills and oceans for centuries. From takeout boxes to hospital cafet...
Heddels began as Rawr Denim, a blog for selvedge lovers, and has grown into one of the strongest independent voices in slow fashion. Andrew talks with founders Nick Coe and David Shuck about their philosophy of buying less, buying better, and why keeping what you already own is often the most sustainable choice. Nick shares how a pair of APC jeans started his obsession with raw denim and eventually led to building Heddels. David recalls a trip to Tokyo that opened his eyes to Japanese selvedg...
Behind the Transformers Foundation Water Report This bonus short features Andrew getting straight to the point. At Kingpins, he often hears mills talk about how they save water in their indigo dyeing process. They explain their methods, but sometimes the explanations are too technical for the audience or simply taken at face value without real verification. Over time, Andrew and his late colleague Miguel Sanchez felt the need for facts that could be compared and trusted. That is where the new...
Episode 28: Retail, Reality, and the Tariff Storm with Mark A. Cohen Mark A. Cohen didn’t plan on going into retail. He was an engineer by training who took a department store job to cover rent. What happened next was a decades-long ride to the top, including stints at Sears, Lazarus, and Mervyn’s, and nearly 20 years teaching at Columbia Business School. These days, he’s the guy business networks call when they want the real story behind the numbers. In this episode, Andrew talks with Mark a...
Trade shows are usually about deals and discovery. But at this July’s Kingpins in New York, the most important moments came from the conversations happening off the show floor. In this solo episode, Andrew Olah shares what he saw, what he heard, and what’s on his mind. The turnout was strong, the food was excellent (people notice!), and the hospitality made a difference. Still, there was an undercurrent of unease about what comes next. At the heart of it all is one thing: uncertainty. With sh...
What happens when two street market dealers turn a love of vintage into one of the most respected fashion archives in the world? In this episode, Andrew Olah sits down with Doug Gunn and Roy Luckett, the co-founders of The Vintage Showroom, a London-based archive and consultancy that has quietly shaped the way global fashion houses think, shop, and design. From rainy mornings at Portobello Market to curating workwear exhibitions in Hong Kong, Doug and Roy share how they built a private, by-ap...
What happens when the system collapses, and you decide to build something meaningful with your hands? In this episode of Jeansland, Andrew sits down with Pete Roberts, founder of Origin, the American brand making jeans, boots, and apparel entirely on U.S. soil. After the 2008 recession upended his life and wiped out his business, Pete was left with a timber-frame cabin in the woods of Maine, two young kids, and no clear way forward. So he and a group of friends and family cut down Easte...
In this powerful two-part conversation, Andrew Olah welcomes back Umer Farooq Qureshi for a deep dive into the structural imbalances plaguing the denim supply chain. Framed by the enduring legacy of colonial capitalism, the discussion explores how suppliers have been conditioned to act like beggars in pursuit of orders — and how that mindset must shift. Together, they challenge conventional wisdom on pricing, power, partnerships, and trade shows, while calling for a new era of unity, dignity,...
In this powerful two-part conversation, Andrew Olah welcomes back Umer Farooq Qureshi for a deep dive into the structural imbalances plaguing the denim supply chain. Framed by the enduring legacy of colonial capitalism, the discussion explores how suppliers have been conditioned to act like beggars in pursuit of orders — and how that mindset must shift. Together, they challenge conventional wisdom on pricing, power, partnerships, and trade shows, while calling for a new era of unity, dignity,...
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