In a growing industry that seems to get to more and more saturated, it’s a challenge to stand out and separate yourself from the rest. But Ulrich “Ubi” Simpson has been in the game for a long time, having worked with the likes of Tommy Hilfiger and Diane Von Furstenburg and has created a denim brand that caters to those who already stand out primarily for their size.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the founder and owner of UBI-iND to talk about the state of the industry as well as the inspiration for his brand going into this next season.
Ubi is pushing his brand towards the duality that can be found in all of us, taking inspiration from some of the closest people in his life. These same people that inspire him are also the brand ambassadors. A few of these ambassadors include former pro surfer, Izzy Paskowitz, as well as Mike Ebeling who founded the Not Impossible Foundation. The few overarching themes for many denim brands’ stories often involve motorcycle culture or vintage workwear, but the faces repping UBI-iND belong to the everyman (all of whom I might add happen to have pretty amazing stories).
Ubi Simpson doing some “product testing”
This season you’ll see a lot of the same quality details you would expect from the brand. Namely, lined back pockets, hidden two-prong rivets, angled belt loops, and of course, quality selvedge denim (all of the denim used for this season’s collection comes from Cone Mills’s White Oak plant and is produced in California).
But thrown in the mix are some new washes and colors. There are even some pieces made of that beloved broken twill fabric. He’s introduced three pairs of garment dyed colored jeans in various military shades as well as a pair of natural selvedge jeans.
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One of the stand out pieces for this season is their washed pair of broken twill selvedge jeans that have been coated in beeswax. The finish on the beeswax jeans is much more subtle than most pairs of waxed jeans and won’t give off that waxy sheen.
UBI-iND’s buckleback jeans will be exclusive to Standard & Strange while the military grey, military green, and British khaki versions are only available on the UBI-iND website and in their store and are limited to only 50 pieces. Prices range from $185 to $265.
