If you have been following Fade Fridays over the last couple of months you may have noticed that some submissions are mentioning the Indigo Invitational.
The Indigo Invitational is a fade competition and raw denim community started by Bryan Szabo and David Dickinson. Fueled by the message of inclusiveness, the Invitation was started as a way to bring the raw denim community closer together. All were welcome at the start on June 1st, 2019 with the only requirements being a pair of unworn raw denim and a willingness to submit monthly fit picture updates.
Attracting over 100 competitors, it’s clear that the community is what makes this “competition” what it is. Competition is in quotes because everyone is truly going to walk away a winner, ‘cos it’s all love in this field with faders supporting one another to get the best fades possible and building friendships in the process.
And speaking of community, it really warms my heart to see major heritage retailer Rivet and Hide along with the raw denim brands Redcast Heritage, and SOSO coming together to support this project.
Mainly connecting through the Indigo Invitational Facebook group, the competition is also promoting itself on Instagram with a dedicated website coming soon. Although the invitational isn’t looking for more competitors, they do need judges to whittle down their starting 115 faders, so now is your chance to get involved. And if judging isn’t your speed, year 2 of the competition is already in the works and is expected to get underway next October.
To give you an idea of the caliber of fades on display, look no further than Indonesia’s Nicholas Vallen and his Naked & Famous Elephant 4s, and USA’s Alex Sword with his Iron Heart 555s. These two competitors have clearly run amuck in the past 10+ months, yielding extremely strong high contrast fades with a big focus on major wear points like the knees, lap, and back of the leg.
Think of their work as a trailer to what will definitely be a raw denim blockbuster come June 1st.
