Jeansland Podcast
This is why I do this. Jeansland is a podcast about the ecosystem in which jeans live. There are an estimated 26 million cotton farmers around the world, and about 25% of their production goes into jeans, which could mean 6.2 million farmers depend on denim. I read estimates that at least 1 million people work in retail selling jeans, and another 1.5 to 2 million sew them. And then there are all the label producers, pattern makers, laundries, chemical companies, machinery producers, and those that work in denim mills. I mean, the jeans industry, which is bigger than the global movie and music business combined, employs a lot of human beings. And many of them, like me, love jeans. The French philosopher and existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, when visiting New York, said, "Everyone in the New York subway is a novel." I never met her, but I guess she made the observation because of the incredible diversity of people who ride the subway system. I'm convinced the people in our jeans industry are like those in the subway. They are unique, with rich and complex stories to tell, and I want to hear them. And deep inside me, I think you might feel the same way.
https://jeansland.co/
Jeansland Podcast
Ep 47: Portugal and the Long Game
This episode starts in 1975, just after Portugal’s Carnation Revolution. A dictatorship ends. No civil war. No collapse. Just a quiet reset and a country that suddenly has to figure out how to function without fear, hierarchy, or shortcuts.
Then we jump to now. Portugal is one of the strongest-performing economies in Europe, and almost nobody is talking about it.
So the question is not “what happened?” It’s “how long did it take?”
In five minutes, Andrew looks at what decades of underinvestment actually do to a country, why revolutions don’t fix systems overnight, and how real change tends to show up slowly, boringly, and all at once. Roads. Education. Institutions. Confidence.
This isn’t a hype piece or a travel diary. It’s a short reflection on patience, competence, and why the long game usually wins, even if no one is watching.