True blue: Raleigh Denim on their personal approach to denim and design
![Raleigh Denim on their personal approach to denim and design](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/cafvXsdQaaZEqpZngg8fqm-415-80.jpg)
Everything about Raleigh Demin is personal, right down to the husband and wife team behind the brand, Sarah Yarborough and Victor Lytvinenko. The couple started indie label Raleigh Denim Workshop in Raleigh, North Carolina, back in 2007 and have since then kept their commitment to keeping their production process intimate – and it shows.
Each pair of jeans they produce is handmade – using 'non-automated jeansmiths' – on vintage machines. Each pair is autographed by its maker. Adjacent to the downtown Raleigh workshop, The Curatory shop stocks collectibles like jewellery and homegoods that capture local flavour.
Their personal approach extends to their designs, too. Raleigh’s heavenly collaboration with Bernhardt Design, for example, elaborated on four celestial motifs significant to the couple. 'We based our wedding invitation on stars,' said Yarborough. As part of the collaboration, the 5,000 paper planes that famously adorn the ceiling of Raleigh’s shop migrated their way to the colourful textiles as an interlocking pattern.
Most recently, the couple sold one-off versions of their products out of a pop-up at Miami’s Raleigh Hotel during Art Basel. Alongside the copper racks displaying their women and menswear lines was an Union Special sewing machine reassembled by Lytvinenko in homage to America’s oldest remaining machine manufacturer.
Despite their commitment to the Tar Heel state, Northerners need not despair – the denim designers opened an NYC flagship in 2012 with a host of paper planes of its own.
The brand was founded in 2007 by husband and wife team Sarah Yarborough and Victor Lytvinenko
The center of operations are their downtown Raleigh workshop and the attached 'Curatory' which sells a charming mixture of local collectibles
This year's collaboration with Bernhardt Textiles, 'Looking Up', was literally a match made in the heavens, featuring four distinct celestial designs
Lytvinenko consults with in-house pattern maker Chris Ellsberg
A motif of interlocking paper planes is one of the four Raleigh Denim x Bernhardt designs
5,000 paper lanes adorn the ceiling of the label's Raleigh store
INFORMATION
For more information, please visit the Raleigh Denim Workshop website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published