Agave Denim Designer Owner, Jeff Shafer, is a contributing editor for Flaunt Magazine’s Denim Issue. When Jeff got the invitation to be a contributing editor in Flaunt magazine’s Denim Issue earlier this year, he committed to it with his usual passion for all denim design projects. Last month the bumper issue hit newsstands with his story running as a 10 page piece, complete with images of the road trip, shot by photographer Jason O’Dell, from his Portland, Oregon studio to the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
Everyone in the industry has been buzzing about the Flaunt Denim issue since the Flaunt editorial team first pitched it at the February trade shows. The expectation that this would be the biggest denim issue the industry had seen in over a decade certainly came to life with this issue which is full of creative denim imagery, stories and fun pullouts that the magazine has always been known for.
The idea of having Jeff Shafer join the editorial team for this issue started percolating back in late February. It was the Agave Denim Fall collection and his own passionate brand story that really captured the attention of Flaunt Editor-in-Chief, Luis Barajas. After reading Agave Denim’s “Brand Manifesto” Luis felt the real life story and inspirations behind Agave’s “West coast Luxury” lifestyle needed to be given a creative platform, so he invited Jeff to be guest editor and the rest, as they say, is history!
It did not take long for the two creative geniuses to put their heads together and come up with an idea. Jeff would guest write and tell the story of the inspirations behind the denim brand while driving down the West Coast in his “denim blue” Audi R8, from Portland to Los Angeles, ending up at the WWD Denim Summit at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
The Agave Road trip ran over 4 days with Jeff, Flaunt’s photographer, Jason Odell and models driving and stopping at some of Jeff’s favorite and most inspirational spots on the coast along the way. Running alongside images is commentary from him on everything that drives his denim passion from past to present day. The Road trip stops include the Portland Japanese Garden (Jeff uses a lot of premium denim from Japan even though everything is made in California), Cannon Beach, Tillamook Bay, Newport Beach Oregon, The Redwoods, Trinity River , San Luis Obispo and Santa Ynez.
“I love natural beautyÔǪ for this reason I work with simple colors found in nature. When I see denim, I see blue of the water and sky. When I see leather the brown of wood. I love the balance and purity of it all” stated Jeff during the trip. The story includes 10 pages of stunning imagery from the stops along the coast. The images from the Agave Road trip will form the basis for Agave’s Fall image campaign and new website launching next month. Did any of you pick up a copy?
