Brand to Watch: Seduka Jeans

Seduka Jeans can be most accurately described as a niche, denim-based brand whose primary focus is creating premium, heavily stylized jeans. The brand was launched in 2006 by Joe Dahan, a third generation denim designer of French-Moroccan descent and has a following among a growing number of celebs including Mario Lopez, Jon Gosselin and Ray J. Seduka caters to a specific type of clientele and Dahan, along with his team, are well-versed in what that customer wants. 

With a well-establish men's line, Durango Adams, Director of Design, describes their customer as
 being both smart and modern with tastes that span the gamut from comfortable, to a mash-up of metro and rocker. "Seduka likes to take things just a little farther, but tasteful," says Adams. This is evident in the denim range which is characterized by heavy embellishments such as studding and back-pocket embroidery. Resin-coated denim has been coated a whopping three times and many of the jeans have abrasions and whiskering all of which is done by hand. Pockets are placed liberally on denim and on their growing sportswear line in what Adams cleverly describes as "Urban Camouflage for all of a man's accessories". 

Recently, Seduka has begun to expand and Spring 2010 will see the official launch of the women's line. The women's line will be made of mostly skinny and skinny bootcut silhouettes and will emulate the men's line in that it will contain aggressive styles that cater to a niche market. There is a continuation in the use of intense handwork and embellishments such as powder-coated studs, trapunto stitching, leather quilting on the yokes and pockets as well as functional zippers in unexpected places such as the yoke or along the leg that can unzip from ankle to waist. A standout piece for Spring is the Sasha Jean in Blue Smoke, made using denim with a black fill in the weave as opposed to the standard natural or white color fill. After dying and handsanding the result is a jean that appears smoky.  

When translated into English, the name Seduka means Charity and Dahan is committed to doing just that. For every item sold, about 10% of the proceeds go to a charity, the majority of which benefit children. So far organizations that have benefitted from Seduka are St. Judes Children's Hospital, UNICEF, Charity:Water and many others. 

Seduka retails between $80 to $125 and is sold in boutiques across the US, Europe and Asia. They have a particularly strong presence in Japan where it retails for a higher price point, upwards of $200. To learn more about Seduka Jeans visit their website at www.sedukajeans.com