McQuinn told Vogue, “I started out doing the production for MiH Jeans, It was a deep denim-immersion experience and I spent most of my four years there in Istanbul and Italy at the wash-house and packaging centre, doing all of the measuring and quality control. For the past three years I’ve been developing the denim line for Victoria Beckham. People wear denim everyday – it sounds lame, but it’s such a fabric of life and a starting point and base for every outfit – whether you are denim obsessed or not. Denim ages with you and the best pairs have been loved and worn-in to perfection. I think people want to fall in love with a pair, and make them their best friend. They want to look amazing and sexy and not have to be precious with it like you would a silk top.”
Finding the styles you desire such as the perfect skinny jeans or high-waisted flare, is made much easier as styles are arranged in cut rather than brand. Big premium labels as well as vintage styles that McQuinn sources herself are also stocked. Confusion out of buying denim has been eliminated by the store, with a personal, customer-centred approach and deliberately “self-service” through paring back the rhetoric and focusing on the one combining element.
McQuinn explains, “I wanted to open a denim den that exclusively focused on the fabric – offering only jeans, shirts and overalls, I think when you’re out to find a bad-ass pair of jeans you aren’t looking for anything else and really want to spend some time there talking to someone who can help. I wanted to use my denim-brand background to only stock the best cuts and fabric, every single pair here is special.”
So where does the name, Bad Denim fit in? She says, “A friend said to me, ‘oh my god that’s such bad denim’ and I just liked it”.
The collection is available at Baddenim.co.uk.
