The Reference Council

The Oiler Wash by Edwin Europe

Its been interesting developing washes from my viewpoint, as in many ways, I have been able to take a step back from the geekery of it all, and look at them with cold honest eyes asking myself, is that actually good ? I feel that its so easy to get wrapped up in what the industry ‘recommends’ as acceptably good product, often based on marketing trends (currently..heritage/vintage/old etc..) that its easy to forget what its like to just look at something and really see it for what it is, how the end consumer will view the product.

I mean, this is a business and the name of the game is sales growth in keeping with the ethos of the brand one works with, for, on… Feed the kids…keep them warm and happy…

We are extremely fortunate to work with passion in an industry we love, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be elitists and knowledge competitive. That part is a choice based on ego perhaps, or when respectable and founded, on years of real experience in perfecting ones art, chosen profession.  Nigel Cabourn, Margaret Howell, Westwood, Ralph  Lauren to name a few… When I say this, I mean the people who’s energy and passion are evidentally refelected in their work, which inspired me once I had accidentally fall into this trade.

What was the inspiration behind creating this wash? Where did you look? Was it a piece of existing denim that caught your attention or was something completely out of the box?

The initial idea came from a film with Jack Nicholson called Five Easy Pieces. If you have not already seen this, it’s something I would recommend. The character Jack Nicholson plays works as an oiler and in denim, giving the denim an ‘oiler’ character. There is eveidentally a fine line between making something look worn, oily and still clean rather than simply dirty. The essence for the wash was taken from this and the technicians then created wash tests until we where able to offer the feeling of a worked in denim without it looking like something you would use in the garage on Sunday afternoons… The denim fabric used is of very high quality and helps immensely on achieving something stable and beautiful.

The wash itself was based on many elements of denim wear patterns we have in our studio, pieces we collect or are kindly donated by people. It was a like a Frankentstein patchwork of different details from many wash references.

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