Dreams in Denim
Walking into Siobhan’s studio in Glasgow’s iconic Barra’s market feels almost fitting. After only moving in four weeks earlier, she’d already made a home for her huge cutting table, sewing machines and mountains of vintage denim with big plans for putting her own unique stamp on things—when she gets a moment between stitching.
The Barras is a bustling street and indoor market based in Glasgow’s East End. ‘Barra’ is a nod to the market's past where traders could be found selling their wares on handcarts or ‘Barrows’. Siobhan’s split-level shopfront ~ slash ~ studio is the perfect fit for the girl who makes beautiful bespoke jackets from material she hawks from the local rag man.
Obviously, pre-meet, I’d basically made up a whole persona based on the denim designer’s Instagram account as you do, I was delighted when my pre-Siobhan shaped premonition was right. She was warm, down-to-earth and buried beneath a piles upon piles of vintage denim.
After resolutely leaving school at 16, Siobhan kicked off her fashion journey at Cardonald College. “I liked art but I hated school. I couldn't wait to leave, I left in 5th year while all my friends stayed on to 6th year and I just went to college, did a course in fashion and textiles and absolutely loved it”. With a certain determination ~slash~ pluckiness, Siobhan admits, “I didn’t know how to thread a sewing machine at the beginning and just winged it by learning from my peers hoping none of the tutors would notice”. This gritty strength of character was to become part of the blueprint for Siobhan’s decision making going forward.
“I didn’t know how to thread a sewing machine at the beginning and just winged it by learning from my peers hoping none of the tutors would notice.”
“I really wanted to leave Glasgow, it was just really grey to me, so I went to Manchester which wasn’t a whole lot less grey, sadly! I stayed there for a couple of years and got my degree. Because I did the HND, I skipped the first year which was great financially but the reality was I was a year behind on the actual course - I wasn’t really good enough to be a year behind, I mean I got it done, but I really struggled”. She was just 18 at the time and “managed to scrape a 2/3”. After graduating, she packed up and headed to the UK’s fashion capital, of course… London dahling.
Arriving in the big smoke feeling less than confident in the skills she had learned, she didn’t apply for any design jobs, “because who on earth would hire me?... Instead I got a full-time job as a tailor at Levi’s on Regent Street”. It was there Siobhan’s obsession with denim was rooted “being around all the denim and meeting all the denim heads. Seeing all these people who really respected their clothes'”, her interest in sustainability was growing, alongside her confidence. Spending most of her days doing rip repairs to customers trusty denims, things were starting to become clearer.
Her time at Levis was bittersweet, “You know when you had the shitty job but it’s the best job ever because you meet your people?”, yeah babe, I do… shout out to the Winter Wonderland Ice Monitor team circa 2002 #TEAM. And so Siobhan packed up her Glaswegian banter and puppylike energy and found herself another job at one of the UK’s best-loved vintage emporiums, “I started working at Rokit, they had a recycle range, so I was cutting all these jeans up to make hot pants” (obviously during the hot pant epidemic of the naughties) “the whole leg of denim was just going in the bin, probably to landfill! I think that’s where it all sunk in for me”. The seed of Rejean Denim was well and truly planted.
Siobhan made her first Rejean Jacket back in May 2018. “I had the idea in my head for a few years and I didn’t really act on it. At the time I was fully freelance, living back in Glasgow. I was doing loads of costume work. One of the places I was working for went into administration, and it left me stressed about and worrying where my next paycheck was coming from”. Those Sunday night heart-stopping cold sweats are something which most freelancers reading this will be able to relate to, Siobhan says they were the motivator behind her starting her brand, “I just started up the Instagram page before the fear really got to me. I made my first ever ReJean sample, designed my logo and had my signature red labels produced. I signed up for an enterprise course with The Prince's Trust and it all really kicked off from there”.
Meeting Siobhan is comparable to coming face to face with a fashion whirlwind. Chalking up and cutting out patterns while we chatted and drank tea; the passion and positivity she stitches both into her business and every beautiful jacket (that she spends around 5 hours making!) is beyond doubt going to see this Glasgow girl do good. Sure, she has frustrations around levelling up but that’s surely to be expected in an industry where fast fashion unfortunately still prevails *eyerolls*, but Siobhan shows courage and defiance in the face of that. With aspirations to take her unique mixture of tradition, sustainability, innovation and style to the big retailers - I have no doubt that we’ll be seeing more of Rejean Denim in a store. near. you.
