Fernando Garcia De La Calera founded Concrete Company Madrid in 2007 producing a limited run of skateboards and graphic tees. However, his introduction to denim allowed him to introduce different products into the company’s product line.
Unlike numerous brands, Concrete Co. Madrid is a true boutique. It’s a small workshop in the center of Madrid that has an open relationship with it’s customers – what the customers need, Concrete caters to. Calera takes his experience as a designer and tailor and puts his own unique touch on denim.
Concrete made its first pair of jeans super tight fitting and elasticated – “Gum Denim Jeans”. They were comfy but didn’t last long skating. So there was the challenge: make something comfortable to wear, durable and cool.
As the company evolved Calera moved to using denims from Japan and the USA ranging from 5 Oz. to 15 Oz. Despite the current focus, he hopes to eventually expand into heavier weights as long as they allow him to retain his core concept of comfortable, durable and cool.
But what sets Concrete Co. Madrid apart is their dye. Calera has used more traditional dyes such as indigo and henna but his experimentation with different dyes is unlike any other boutique company around. He takes raw un-dyed denim and has experimented with a number of dyes from brown sugar and white wine to coffee and curry.
Watch the video above to see a little more about his Coffee Curry Denim. Since the dye is somewhat experimental it doesn’t do well after washing. Luckily, if you’re a real denim ‘enthusiast’ you’re probably not washing your jeans all that regularly (or at all!) and have more than likely developed methods to deal with the odor.
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Calera is working with some materials to try and make the dye a more permanent fixture to the denim, but for now you’ll have to put the jeans in for some serious freezer hours when they start to get a little smelly.
