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.
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Jeansland Podcast
Ep 62: The Cost of Conflict with Umer Farooq Qureshi
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Before the garments even leave the warehouse, the damage is already done.
In Episode 62, Andrew sits down again with Umer Farooq Qureshi as the industry finds itself caught in the middle of a war it didn’t start. One year after their last conversation, the same pressures are back, only now they’re accelerating. The U.S. is actively engaged in a growing conflict with Iran, and the ripple effects are moving directly through the global supply chain.
The conversation starts on the ground. Finished goods sitting at airports. Flights canceled. Routes closed. Costs rising across every input. Fuel, freight, energy, currency. Orders booked months ago at prices that no longer make sense.
From there, the picture widens. A system where suppliers absorb the shocks while demand weakens at the other end. Margins already thin, now squeezed further. A business model built for stability, operating in a world that no longer has it.
They get into what this means in practice. Delays stretching weeks. Input costs multiplying overnight. Financial strength becoming the only buffer. And the growing gap between what it costs to produce and what the market is willing to pay.
But underneath all of it is a larger shift. Not a cycle, but a transition. From one global order to another. And an industry still trying to operate as if nothing has changed.
There’s a bigger question running through the conversation: what happens to the supply chain when the old rules stop working, but the new ones haven’t been defined yet? In this episode, we begin to explore that question.
Thank you to our sponsor Inside Denim.