By Robin | November 23, 2023

Gear Up for Y4 of the Indigo Invitational: Starting Soon!

The Indigo Invitational, the world’s largest and most-inclusive fading competition, will start its fourth edition on January 1st. All brands, all fits, and all denim weights are welcome. With a clear goal to create the best faded pair of jeans in just 365 days, all participants will try to push their jeans to the absolute limit—and beyond!

We have been a big fan of fading contests from separate brands, but we love that the Indigo Invitational is independent. As long as it’s unworn raw denim, it’s eligible for the competition. We love it, and we’re not the only ones. Starting with just 115 competitors for Year One, the competition registered more than 1,000 faders for Year Three. It’s exploded, and it’s helped expose the world of raw denim to hundreds of new people every year.

The winning pairs from the first three editions of the Indigo Invitational were absolutely spectacular. This means that we’ve got sky-high expectations for Y4. The Invitational produces what are truly some of the best faded pairs we’ve ever seen, and we know that this year will be no exception. Next to incredible fades, the contest brings the online denim community together, and Y4 will guarantee a lot of fun and denim talks amongst both participants and spectators.

We reached out to Bryan Szabo, founder of the Indigo Invitational, and we asked him what he expects for this year. Here’s what he said:

“This year is going to be unlike anything else we’ve seen before. For the first time, we’ve divided the competition up into three different streams. The Southeast Asian fade scene, thanks in large part to their two-season climate, produces fades that stand in their own category. We’re finally recognizing this, giving them their own Top 10. Far too many incredible faders have had to go home empty-handed in previous years. This new structure will help us address this. At the end of the voting and judging, the winners from each conference will go head to head to determine our overall winner.

We’ve also got Re(Pair), which allows competitors who’ve completed a full year of the competition to return for another lap of the track in the same pair. This is an excellent opportunity for faders who struggle to fully fade their pairs inside of a year, but we’ll also have serious competitors returning with pairs that are already fully faded. They’ll keep the pairs going with artful repairs from some of our participating repair specialists. The winning pairs will be incredible works of art—collaborations of a sort between the faders and our mending professionals.

This means we’ll have a minimum of 25 prize showcases, plus spot prizes and a few raffle prizes for finishers at the end of the year. We’ve been very busy in the offseason, and we’ve managed to gather more than 50 prize sponsors for Year Four of the competition. The support from the industry has been truly incredible this year. Their generosity will allow us to reward so many incredile faders from all over the world. To say the least, the community is very excited to get started on January 1st.”

We are encouraging all denim heads to join the 4th edition of the Indigo Invitational. The prizes are appealing, but this isn’t the primary reason to compete. Above all, it’s an incredibly fun and rewarding experience. There’s no cost to enter (your fresh pair of raw denim is your ticket), and the registration process is super easy. You’ll go on a year-long adventure with fellow denimheads and, even if you don’t end the year on the podium, you might walk away with some amazing prizes.

Realign

Join Team Realign in the Indigo Invitational

Realign Denim has been a huge supporter of the Indigo Invitational since day one, and we will be joining this year’s contest as a prize sponsor. One lucky winner will be walking way in a new pair of Realigns of their choice, which will be delivered to any doorstep worldwide, free of charge!

We believe that all jeans from Realigns offering are perfectly suitable for the indigo invitational as they are made to withstand heavy wear and to fade beautifully. All Realign jeans are fully made in Japan with the utmost of care, following ancient Japanese textile traditions. Featuring a mix of traditional and unique details, each pair is inspired by the storied history of Japanese denim and the legend of American workwear, combined with an eye for contemporary style. Their selection of high-quality Japanese selvedge denim fabrics with great fading potential will surely make a denimhead’s heart beat faster. And, not surprisingly at all, Realign Denim have done great in previous fading competitions.

To encourage our followers to join Team Realign for the fourth edition of the Indigo Invitational, we’ve prepared a special discount code for any purchase made at realigndenim.com between November 24th and December 15th. Simply enter the discount code ‘TeamRealign’ at the check out to receive 10% off plus free worldwide shipping. There are no strings attached, and you can use the code whether you are competing in the Invitational or not.

If you are willing to compete in your pair, we’ll sweeten the deal. We’ll give you another 10% off, which you’ll receive as cash back when you send us proof of registration. After your purchase, register your pair here. Take a screen cap of the registration confirmation and include it in an email to Realign. We’ll process the rebate as quickly as possible.