14 stores · curated ORBIS register
Raw jeans sit at the centre of A.P.C., the Paris label Jean Touitou established in 1987. Okayama's Betty Smith offers custom jeans workshops, connecting its retail activity with a denim business that began in 1962. Its Kojima setting places that work within the Japanese denim industry represented on this page. Turkey's Colin's launched under that name in 1992, following the Eroğlu family's earlier garment manufacturing in Istanbul.
France
Jean Touitou's Parisian label since 1987 — minimalist denim, raw jeans, and the 'Interaction' design philosophy. The uniform of Parisian creatives.
Best for Minimalist French polos; Rayure striped polos; American-French polo; Workwear polo; Selvedge Denim
Kojima, Kurashiki, Okayama / Japan / Online
Japan's oldest jeans maker — 1962, the original Okayama denim brand, custom jeans workshops, and the Kojima institution that predates the Osaka 5 by decades.
Best for 1962, Japan's oldest jeans, custom workshops, DIY experience.
Turkey
Turkish denim brand launched 1992 by the Istanbul-based Eroglu family, who began garment manufacturing in 1983 and renamed their jeans line Colin's; now sold in stores across roughly two dozen countries.
Best for Turkish jeans sold across 40 countries from this Istanbul denim brand
Colin's traces its roots to 1983, when Turkish businessman Nurettin Eroglu and his brothers opened a garment workshop in the Kadirga district of Istanbul under what became Eroglu Holding. They began producing their first jeans in 1986 under the name 'Kulis,' then opened a factory in Avcilar, Istanbul, in 1992 - the same year they renamed the brand 'Colin's Jeans.' Exports began in 1993. Eroglu Holding also owns the LOFT brand.
Osaka / Japan
Founded in 1988, DENIME is built around a 'real basic' approach to everyday denim. Its current Warehouse-made programme revisits the brand's earliest jeans, including denim recipes originally developed with Kurabo.
Best for Selvedge jeans and recreated early DENIME denim recipes
Breganze / Veneto / Online
Denim house founded in Breganze, Veneto in 1978, when 23-year-old Renzo Rosso bought a stake in a manufacturer called Moltex and renamed it Diesel. Still headquartered in Breganze; now the flagship label of Rosso's OTB Group.
Best for Statement denim and Glenn Martens-era fashion.
Diesel traces to 1978, when Renzo Rosso, then 23, used a loan from his father to buy a holding in a Veneto clothing manufacturer called Moltex, owned by Adriano Goldschmied, and renamed it Diesel. Rosso had been sewing his own low-rise, bell-bottomed jeans on his mother's machine since his early teens in nearby Brugine, selling them to friends before joining the trade professionally. The Diesel name was chosen because, amid the 1970s oil crisis, 'diesel' read as the alternative fuel - a way of positioning the label as an alternative to mainstream casualwear. The company has remained headquartered in Breganze, in the Veneto region, since its founding. In 2002, Rosso formalized his growing fashion holdings by founding OTB Group, a holding company that has since brought Diesel together with other houses under common ownership as Rosso expanded beyond the original jeanswear label. Diesel today produces jeans, ready-to-wear and accessories and sells online at diesel.com, alongside its retail network.
PRINTEMPS
Tokyo denim since 1947 — rainbow selvedge and the jeans that pioneered Japanese washing artistry.
Best for Rainbow selvedge denim that pioneered Japanese washing techniques since 1947
Veneto, Italy
Italian denim label founded 1984 by Claudio Grotto in Chiuppano, Veneto. Its parent, Grotto S.p.A., neared bankruptcy in 2021; the brand and Chiuppano factory were acquired in 2022 by Milano 1984 SpA, ending direct Grotto-family ownership.
Best for Italian jeans culture from Chiuppano, Veneto, since 1984.
Gas Jeans was founded in 1984 by Claudio Grotto in Chiuppano, near Vicenza in the Veneto region, growing out of an earlier 1970s workshop background in the same area. The label launched as a menswear jeans line before expanding into womenswear. Under Grotto family ownership it grew into a recognized premium denim brand distributed internationally. In 2021 its parent company, Grotto S.p.A., came close to bankruptcy after accumulating roughly 80 million euros in losses and laying off around 200 workers. In 2022 the brand, the Chiuppano factory, and its roughly 140 remaining employees were acquired out of that crisis by Milano 1984 SpA, an investment vehicle led by entrepreneur Andrea Citterio; no member of the Grotto family remained involved in the new ownership structure.
Florence / Online
The Marciano brothers’ denim-glam Americana since 1981 — sultry campaigns, logo denim and accessible LA glamour.
Best for Glam denim.
Roßbach / Online
German trouser and denim specialist founded 1973 in Wald/Rossbach near Regensburg by Max Gansbuhler; family-run, sells over 6 million pairs of men's and women's trousers annually.
Best for Precision-fit jeans
MAC Jeans was founded in 1973 in the small Upper Palatinate community of Wald/Rossbach, near Regensburg, Bavaria, by Max Gansbuhler. What started as a specialist trouser maker grew into one of Europe's leading denim and trouser manufacturers, now moving more than six million pairs of men's and women's trousers per year. The company remains headquartered at the same Rossbach site, with roughly 330 employees, and has stayed a family business focused narrowly on fit: its product range is built around dozens of cuts across jeans, chinos, dress trousers, shorts and capris. The brand has run collaborations, including with Brigitte magazine and rally driver Walter Rohrl.
Istanbul, Turkey
Turkish denim brand founded in Istanbul in 1991 by Sait Akarlilar with his children Elif and Ersin Akarlilar, building on the family's Erak textile firm (est. 1959); expanded into Europe in 1994 and opened a New York office in 1996.
Best for Turkish-made denim jeans with global reach, from Istanbul.
Mavi was founded in Istanbul in 1991 by Sait Akarlilar together with his children Elif and Ersin Akarlilar, building on decades of experience from the family's earlier textile company, Erak, established in 1959. Mavi's founding aim was to give Turkish consumers a well-fitting jeans; a national advertising campaign in 1993 and European exports from 1994 helped the brand become Turkey's best-selling jeans by 1996, the same year it opened a North American headquarters in New York. Mavi now operates its own stores and wholesale distribution across more than 30 countries, remaining headquartered in Istanbul.
Downtown Aspen (E Cooper Ave)
Aspen's original clothing store, open downtown since 1969, this independent boutique built its name on denim. It carries contemporary apparel alongside the jeans.
Best for Denim and contemporary apparel
Veneto, Italy
Veneto denim innovation since 1981 — Hyperflex stretch and laser-wash pioneering from Asolo.
Best for Hyperflex stretch denim and laser-wash techniques pioneered in Asolo since 1981
Japan
Shinya Mills has worked in textiles since 1951 and still weaves denim on the shuttle looms that American manufacturers replaced after the Second World War. In the early 1980s an American brand came to the factory to revive its original selvedge jeans. From the 1990s the mill has worked closely with young Japanese brands reproducing vintage denim. Its stated aim is denim that goes beyond the original.
Best for Slub yarns, nep effects, irregular weaves, texture.
Shinya Mills has worked in Japan's textile industry since 1951. Its own account focuses on the survival of shuttle-loom denim production after American manufacturers replaced that machinery following World War II. A limited number of those looms remained active in factories in Japan, preserving a slower method associated with original denim. In the early 1980s, an American brand approached Shinya Mills to revive its selvedge jeans. During the 1990s, the mill began working closely with younger labels in Japan that reproduced vintage denim. Those episodes explain the company's place in the broader denim story without reducing it to nostalgia. The mill's stated aim is to produce fabric that moves beyond the original, using inherited machinery as a working tool rather than a museum exhibit. For a buyer, the key distinction is process. Shuttle looms and selvedge construction, plus collaboration with reproduction labels, create a specific manufacturing context. Shinya Mills represents the industrial side of denim in Japan: fabric development and loom knowledge before a finished pair of jeans carries another label.
USA
Hezy Shaked and Tilly Levine opened 'World of Jeans and Tops' in Los Alamitos, California in 1982, later renamed Tilly's after Levine; the Irvine-headquartered chain went public in 2012 (NYSE: TLYS) and now runs roughly 247 stores across 33 states.
Best for West Coast surf skate retail
Tilly's began in 1982 as 'World of Jeans and Tops,' opened in Los Alamitos, California by Hezy Shaked, a former Israeli Navy officer, and his then-wife Tilly Levine. Shaked later renamed the store Tilly's after Levine; the couple divorced in 1989, though Levine continued working for the company as director of vendor relations. From a single Southern California store, the chain grew under Shaked's leadership into a nationwide surf, skate, motocross and youth-lifestyle apparel retailer. Tilly's went public in May 2012, raising $124 million in its IPO and trading on the NYSE under the ticker TLYS. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, and as of recent reporting operates roughly 247 stores across 33 U.S. states.
Curated ORBIS register · official links shown where recorded
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗