Reval Denim Guild – A Northern (European) Promise

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December 16, 2013

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Reval Denim Guild is a denim brand with a difference. Founders, Sten Karik (with his beautiful beard) and Joan Hint (with her beautiful face), wanted to create the finest artisan tailoring from their native Reval (Tallinn), ‘the oldest capital of Northern Europe’. In 2010, after months researching Tallinn’s long forgotten roots and traditional craft heritage, the Reval Denim Guild was finally born.

With a worldwide patent for their iconic two-coloured jeans, the creation of the Denim Guild in 2013 and the recruitment of Peep Vahi (the dashing moustached man in RDG’s first campaign) this brand has our full attention.

We couldn’t wait to ask founder, Sten about his fabulous fashion adventure and find out more about the brilliance behind the beard…

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Thank-you for taking the time to chat beards and fashion with us. How did you originally get started?

Reval Denim Guild was born out of a great vision. The idea came in 2009 and by the beginning of 2010 me and my girl, Joan, had found companions willing to give birth to something so new and unknown. We started with cotton shirts and before we could understand we were in the world of denim. We did not plan to create a denim brand, we just wanted to create great things and jeans just happened to be the first big step. But the world of denim is very complex. We had to delve into it, and the deeper we went, the more we were touched by this incredible blue material. The roughness and the softness, the way it ages, fades, resists and transforms through time. That same year we created our first iconic 2-coloured jeans called the Visionary pants, which we patented worldwide. Three years we spent improving the product and our knowledge. This year we managed to buy our very first sewing machines, used specially for traditional denim making. We’ve found incredible people to work with. Add enthusiasm and will to create, and give your best in everything you do, and you get behind the curtains of Reval Denim Guild.

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We love the latest shots for your ad campaign, especially the fabulous facial hair! What is the inspiration behind this latest collection?

Thank you! It is our very first full collection, called Chapter One. Skirts, shirts, coats and 11 different models of jeans were inspired by the nature of stiff denim material together with the story of Reval (Tallinn). It was inspired by the times when good crafts were valued and when there were Guilds and Artisans, noble men of all kinds, freedom, slavery and the national awakening of our people. A lot went missing during the Soviet period. The architecture, people’s self-awareness, intellectual richness… But the situation is slowly changing. We are about to remember.

Can you give us some insight into the fashion scene in Estonia? Was it difficult to create a new brand?

The fashion scene in Estonia is becoming more and more interesting. People are willing to experiment more, new brands open their stores, many local designers have come out with some really strong collections. Give us some more years and Tallinn will become one of the next cities to keep an eye on! We have many creative people doing amazing things and not just in the fashion scene. The whole city is vibrating…

Creating something new really starts within you, you are the one who follows the vision and makes it happen. If you are willing to give your very best and become part of what you do it’ll be easier. But it really should be your thing – many who dream about becoming a fashion designer or creating a brand have no idea what it actually takes. How much of  yourself you will have to pour into it. If you enjoy the journey with its ups and downs, it’s worth it. It will then become a constant experience of creation. Creating a denim brand was new not only for me and Joan but also to everybody else in Estonia. We wanted everything to be locally made, but it’s not a everyday situation for a local leather craftsmen here to produce leather labels that would survive different washes, not to mention the search of proper buttons and denim machines and most of all – people familiar with the craft of denim. We want things to last, we want them to be well-made. We were rejected so many times and we were told continuously how this and that was impossible that somehow the will transformed into a certain kind of thrill.

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What do you mean by impossible? There is no such thing!

This is also one of the reasons we brought Reval Denim Guild to existence this year. As I already said, we are highly inspired by our heritage and we are very inspired by people who do their own thing and who think of their work as a practice towards becoming an absolute expert at what they do. So we united such people under the roof of the very first denim Guild in the world.

How popular is facial hair in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital? Is it viewed in a positive or negative light?

Beards and moustaches on the streets of Tallinn are not that common. Yet the popularity of facial hair is growing.  It’s about the inner confidence – many shave after few weeks or months of growing just because of the reaction of others. I personally couldn’t imagine myself without a beard any more. Recently I also heard that hair and facial hair work as an extension of the nervous system. They transmit information to brainstem, the limbic system, and neocortex. They also radiate electromagnetic energy emitted by the brain into the outer environment. When hair is cut, receiving and sending transmissions to and from the environment are greatly hampered. The body starts the process of growth again and we loose energy we could use elsewhere. Our bodies have evolved millions of years and it would be quite naive to think we have hair and beards just for aesthetic reasons.

How do you keep your beard in tiptop condition?

You have to find a good barber, and every once in a while you go to this barber. Meanwhile you take care of it as you would take care of your hair – you wash it, you brush it and you trim it a bit. My beard has been growing for three years and it holds its form well.

Do you have any favourite beard products?

Firehouse Moustache Wax is strong enough for my fur and every once in a while I use Frank’s beard elixir.

Finally, who is your bearded hero and why?

Poseidon had a great beard. Gandalf made great ships. And Leonardo da Vinci, for he had the curiosity and imagination.

Visit Reval Denim Guild on Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Vimeo

Images of Sten Karik for Reval Denim Guild

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