Announcing the Winners of The Fade Off, the DH15 Anniversary Fading Competition
Denimhunters turned 15 back in January. By October, I’d managed to celebrate precisely none of it. I’d meant to do something, of course, but taking centre stage (and sometimes action) isn’t really my thing.
Then I remembered the little fading competition I ran with Meadow in the early days. That sounded much better than a birthday speech: put the readers’ denim in the spotlight.
DH15 was the anniversary celebration, and The Fade Off was the competition anyone could enter.
How The Fade Off Worked
The idea itself was simple enough: invite readers to submit photos of their worn-in denim, ask the community to vote for their favourites. The execution was classic Thomas; very last minute.
No advance announcement, no weeks of build-up. In fact, I only pitched the project to my developer on October 17—just six days before The Fade Off opened—and he pretty much built the system as we went! More than 150 entries came in. Considering how late I left it, I’m pretty pleased with that.
For the online vote, I hid the names, Instagram handles, brands and models. The point was to judge the fades. More than 2,600 votes came in, and after email verification and a review of the results, I had the final standings.
The top three places were clear. Fourth place was another matter, because four entrants finished with exactly 44 verified votes each. That gave me seven online winners instead of six.
We also ran an in-store Fade Off at Brund in Copenhagen on November 5, with four more winners that evening.
The 7 Winning Fades
Here’s what the seven winners from the online competition wore and what they put it through.
First Place – Ido Kurniawan
Entry #150 | 58 verified votes | @denimevozz
Ido wore his 25 oz. Oldblue Co. The Mighty Beast Special Anniversary 8th jeans almost daily for a year in 2018 and 2019. He rode his motorcycle 20 to 30 km to work and spent 12 to 14 hours a day in the same pair.
Scorching heat, heavy rain, storms and visits to hotel construction sites were all part of it. I like that there’s no elaborate fading routine here. Just long working days, a commute, and one pair of jeans that came along for everything.
Second Place – Sven
Entry #77 | 51 verified votes | @lovogrett
Sven’s 16.5 oz. Tellason Coverall has seen mountains, moshpits and endless walks with the dogs. That was almost his entire submission. The same jacket had already won the Re(PAIR) category at Redline Rally Year Three.
Now it’s taken second in The Fade Off. Some entrants sent detailed wear diaries; Sven didn’t bother. Between the mountains, the gigs and the dog walks, I reckon the fades say enough on its own.
Third Place – Jørn-Bjørn Fuller-Gee
Entry #36 | 49 verified votes | @denimdawg_
Jørn-Bjørn has already won first place in the Rest of the World conference at Indigo Invitational Year Five with his Iron Heart IH-555L jeans. Now he’s added third in The Fade Off.
Time in the Arctic, five months of winter snow and four months of demanding theatre rehearsals are only part of the story. Add a whisky soak, a bourbon spill, dips in a glacier river and the Mediterranean, a bath and three machine washes.
Joint Fourth – Aaron Kikola
Entry #49 | 44 verified votes | @thedoublecuff
Aaron wore his Iron Heart 888s-21ib jeans for Year Four of the Indigo Invitational. His submission was short, but he did mention one detail worth noting: Iron Heart no longer offers this particular denim.
That’s all the background he gave me, which is fine. The jeans had already been through one fading competition. Here, 44 verified votes put them in a four-way tie for fourth. Not a bad encore.
Joint Fourth – Paul Hope
Entry #69 | 44 verified votes | @pauls.yard
Paul’s Brave Star Ironside jacket is his entry for the 2026 Redline Rally—his first fading competition. It’s been battered by Scottish weather and taken into the Mediterranean. So far, so normal.
Then Paul mentioned “an elephant” giving it a wash in a swimming pool. After 15 years of writing about denim, that’s a new one on me. It certainly beats another story about waiting six months to wash your jeans.
Joint Fourth – Muhammad Azizul
Entry #145 | 44 verified votes | @xkecikxjourneyx
Muhammad wore his Samurai S710XX25oz-UW jeans daily during Year Three of the Indigo Invitational. He gave them an initial soak and four washes, waiting seven months before the first wash.
After wearing them, he’d air them out and give them some sunshine each week. Once the competition ended, he slowed down the wear because he didn’t want to lose more indigo. Fair enough. When you like the way a pair looks, sometimes you want to keep it that way.
Joint Fourth – Rico Ahmad
Entry #151 | 44 verified votes | @rricoahmadd
Rico’s 18 oz. Adelaide Denim Kamikaze jeans have already been around the competition circuit. He finished eighth in the Southeast Asia conference at Indigo Invitational Year Four.
He entered The Fade Off hoping for another win. He didn’t get first place, but 44 verified votes put him joint fourth and earned him a prize. I’d call that a decent second showing.
7 Winners Meant a 7th Prize
When the votes were counted, I had four people tied on 44 votes and only six prizes. Easy fix: I added another Weirloom x Heimat Mechanics Beanie. Seven winners, seven prizes.
The final line-up: a pair of Indigofera jeans, a Tellason belt, a SOSOBROTHERS mystery prize, a US$150 Brave Star gift card, a Weirloom gift card and two Weirloom x Heimat Mechanics Beanies. Weirloom is my own brand, so those last three are my contribution.
Online Prizes
I’m following the Indigo Invitational’s approach to prizes: first place chooses first, then second, then so on. So Ido gets first pick, followed by Sven and Jørn-Bjørn. For the four tied in fourth, I’ll draw names to decide the order they choose in. It’s still joint fourth for all four; the draw is only about who picks next.
I’ve emailed all seven winners with their results. They have 24 hours to confirm their details, but only Ido gets to choose a prize straight away. I’ll contact the others again when it’s their turn, and nobody needs to come to Copenhagen to claim an online prize. If someone doesn’t reply, I’ll offer the prize to the next eligible entry.
A Note About the Voting
I checked the vote records before finalising the results. Some patterns didn’t add up, so I had to disqualify two entries and voided a number of votes. The numbers next to the winners above are the verified totals.
Not the fun part of running a fading competition, but everyone who entered deserves a fair count. And I’d rather spend the rest of this article talking about denim.
Four More Winners at Brund
The Fade Off wasn’t just online. On Thursday, November 5, we held a separate, in-store competition at Brund in Copenhagen as part of the DH15 celebration.
Brund was packed, and the mood was brilliant. After months of putting the anniversary off, this was exactly the sort of celebration I could get behind: people getting together to talk denim. Danish media turned up to interview a few of us too, including me. So much for staying out of the spotlight.
Peter and I did the judging during the evening and couldn’t agree on just three winners. So rather than force a ranking, we picked four: Alexander, Asger, Niels and Rene. All four were equal winners. We’d lined up a Brund gift card, a Freenote shirt and a Weirloom x Heimat beanie, so I threw in a pair of Weirloom jeans as a fourth prize. Problem solved!
In-Store Prizes
Thanks for Taking Part of DH15
Thanks to everyone who entered, voted or came along to Brund. I wanted to celebrate the people who make Denimhunters worth running, and you turned up with the denim and the stories to prove the point.
Thanks to Peter and the Brund team for having me, and to Indigofera, Tellason, SOSOBROTHERS, Brave Star, and Freenote for putting prizes on the table.
Motorcycle commutes, moshpits, Arctic snow, a few trips into the sea and an elephant-assisted wash. I couldn’t have made up a better collection of denim stories if I’d tried. I’ll take that over a birthday speech any day.
You can still explore all the other entries in The Fade Off gallery.
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