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With Menno Van Meurs Of Tenue.
This month, we continuing our ‘In Conversation’ series and are handing over the reins to Tenue. founder and Amsterdam based denim legend Menno Van Meurs. We sit down to discuss denim (naturally), his passion for sportswear and defining the future of retail.
Interview by Meghann Thorp
Can you tell us about your upbringing and interest in fashion?
One of my brightest childhood memories was discovering my dad's closet where he kept everything from 1970’s jackets, to vintage biker boots and even his extraordinary wedding suit.
I was intrigued by not only the coolness of the pieces, but also by the fact that they were in pristine condition. They looked relevant, they felt relevant and they were still in amazing shape.
Growing up in the small school village dressing up like a Tarantino character didn’t always win you the popularity prize. So I went studying at 17 in the south Netherlands in pursuit of a career of business and marketing.
My first real retail job at 15 was in one of the best stores in Rotterdam. They would sell the real deal in terms of new sports shoes. If they’d have told me to work for free, I’d have been okay with that. It was simply the coolest job on earth. I’m completely mad about sports.
I remember looking for a pair of jeans back and ended up at the denim store ‘Hague’ who offered me a job there out of the blue. That’s where my identity quest started and where I found alongside the introduction with my dad’s seventies closet, that beautiful blue garment was meaning a lot more than I ever expected.
By the time I graduated the second time, I had to admit that it wasn’t a grey suit for me, but a blue suit that I was looking for and not really the wool one, but the denim one. In all those years, I worked as much as I could in the store, and was intrigued and addicted to anything denim, wanting to know everything about it. I knew by heart from very young at 16 there's only one thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life – and that was sell jeans.
With Menno Van Meurs Of Tenue.
In the second part of our conversation with Menno Van Meurs, we deep dive into the sustainability of denim and how well-made clothes are the only thing we need long-haul.
Interview by Meghann Thorp
Can you tell us about your upbringing and interest in fashion?
One of my brightest childhood memories was discovering my dad's closet where he kept eveverything from 1970’s jackets, to vintage biker boots and even his extraordinary wedding suit.
I was intrigued by not only the coolness of the pieces, but also by the fact that they were in pristine condition. They looked relevant, they felt relevant and they were still in amazing shape.
Growing up in the small school village dressing up like a Tarintino character didn't always win you the popularity prize. So I went studying at 17 in the south Netherlands in pursuit of a career of business and marketing.
My first real retail job at 15 was in one of the best stores in Rotterdam. They would sell the real deal in terms of new sports shoes. If they’d have told me to work for free, I’d have been okay with that. It was simply the coolest job on earth. I’m completely mad about sports.
How did Tenue. come about?
In the early 2000’s, it really surprised me there wasn’t a store in the Netherlands focusing on high quality jeans. I thought let’s get the best denim brands in the world together whether it’s my dad who’s 70 visiting, or my nephew of 16, we want to be the place that everybody can find their perfect pair of jeans. And that’s what Tenue. De Nimes became. It became a mecca for denim, a go-to destination for anyone looking for ‘the one’.
The reason why we started with Tenue. Is that during the years that followed, the business changed, the focus of a lot of brands became less and less about quality. At one point we did a lot of collaborations; some we had a success with, but the quality was so bad that customers came back into the shop with the same speed that they went out.
Instead of being frustrated about this negative, I realised after more than a decade in the industry, I could actually make the change ourselves by making our own jeans.
That’s when in 2017, I split with my business partner, my best buddy. We had an amazing ride together, but it felt the right time to part ways – so I started Tenue. For me, I really felt if I wanted to be of use in the future of denim, I could no longer just be having the ambition to run a store. I really had to dream bigger.
It was time to define the future not only in the Netherlands, but anywhere in the world. Due to the internet and the change in retail and clothing, denim got further away from its original purpose. For me, it was a clear moment. The split was also the time that I said to myself, okay, now I have the freedom to invest every single minute that I have in defining the 21st century denim. And that’s what I did.
What is Tenue. inspired by?
I’m wearing one of my favourite vintage Champion garments, it’s made in the USA, is 30 years old and made by a 500 grams French Terry, very similar to the one that we use here. It’s simply indestructible. This will outlive me without any doubt. That’s a concept that really inspires me and why we call the brand Tenue., because it’s inspired by sports. It’s that one outfit you want to wear every day, you wear it with pride, it’s your Tenue. And you need an emblem.
People have recently lost a connection to their products. This is somewhat thanks to leisurewear; they are brought up thinking that everything has to be comfortable and stretch instantly. There is zero effort involved and I believe any relationship starts with effort. We have to invest in that product. Some people might think that I’ve completely lost it now, but you need to grow into those Tenue. jeans.
A 14-ounce fabric will feel a little harsh in the beginning, but then it will become like a wax mould of your body. You wash it a couple of times and then it follows every turn and twist in your body until all of a sudden, it’s something that you don’t want to live without. That takes two weeks and you hate those two weeks. And then you’ll love me after.
How did this partnership develop?
I have one rule in my company and that's we are a denim company. We are a five pocket jeans company. We make jean’s and those couple of items (like a good sweater and white t-shirt) that we believe are absolutely incredible that belong to jeans, they’re in the DNA.
There are also a few outerwear items that I absolutely see as one with the heritage of jeans and the varsity jacket is one of those beautiful classic items that sort of co-created the history of jeans.
The varsity jacket is one of those iconic items that we wanted to put in the hands of a real outerwear connoisseur. The PWVC factory in Manchester has an amazing fashion history. It’s like walking into a pristine fashion museum. There’s so much craftmanship and history. It’s everything that we are excited about.
There is no other factory that I know of in Europe, with more expertise and more history in creating iconic outerwear. We are quite amazing in making jeans, but I wanted to ask the best which is why I reached out to Mike and James because I wanted to make a piece by people that are so crazy about outerwear the way we are crazy about jeans.
How would you style the Tenue. Varsity Jacket?
The beauty of jeans is the fact that they’re relevant, always. You can wear them to the office, on a dog walk, if you’re going out, with a nice, sexy t-shirt and high heels if you’re a girl (or even a boy). They're so versatile, relevant, and always cool.
That's what a varsity jacket is as well. You could cover a cocktail dress or you could cover an Italian tailored pair of formal pants. It doesn't matter where you put it on, it'll look good.
This is why you have all of those Hollywood movies where the girls steal the guys’ jacket andlook amazing - even though they’re wearing double XL that was normally used by the quarterback they were going out with.
It doesn't matter when you’ll wear a Varsity jacket it’ll make you rock the night anywhere. This is why I was so ambitious to get this out there. And why there’s not really an answer to the question how should you style it? Because the varsity jacket will decide what the mood of the night will be. And I think there’s not a lot of products that are actually able to define what’s going to happen that night the way a pair of jeans or a good varsity jacket can.
The Tenue. x PWVC capsule is now available online, in-store and at Tenuejeans.com.
SHOP PWVC x TENUE.
How did Tenue. come about?
In the early 2000’s, it really surprised me there wasn’t a store in the Netherlands focusing on high quality jeans. I thought let’s get the best denim brands in the world together whether it’s my dad who’s 70 visiting, or my nephew of 16, we want to be the place that everybody can find their perfect pair of jeans. And that’s what Tenue. De Nimes became. It became a mecca for denim, a go-to destination for anyone looking for ‘the one’.
The reason why we started with Tenue. Is that during the years that followed, the business changed, the focus of a lot of brands became less and less about quality. At one point we did a lot of collaborations; some we had a success with, but the quality was so bad that customers came back into the shop with the same speed that they went out.
Instead of being frustrated about this negative, I realised after more than a decade in the industry, I could actually make the change ourselves by making our own jeans.
That’s when in 2017, I split with my business partner, my best buddy. We had an amazing ride together, but it felt the right time to part ways – so I started Tenue. For me, I really felt if I wanted to be of use in the future of denim, I could no longer just be having the ambition to run a store. I really had to dream bigger.
It was time to define the future not only in the Netherlands, but anywhere in the world. Due to the internet and the change in retail and clothing, denim got further away from its original purpose. For me, it was a clear moment. The split was also the time that I said to myself, okay, now I have the freedom to invest every single minute that I have in defining the 21st century denim. And that’s what I did.
What is Tenue. inspired by?
I’m wearing one of my favourite vintage Champion garments, it’s made in the USA, is 30 years old and made by a 500 grams French Terry, very similar to the one that we use here. It’s simply indestructible. This will outlive me without any doubt. That’s a concept that really inspires me and why we call the brand Tenue., because it’s inspired by sports. It’s that one outfit you want to wear every day, you wear it with pride, it’s your Tenue. And you need an emblem.
People have recently lost a connection to their products. This is somewhat thanks to leisurewear; they are brought up thinking that everything has to be comfortable and stretch instantly. There is zero effort involved and I believe any relationship starts with effort.
We have to invest in that product. Some people might think that I’ve completely lost it now, but you need to grow into those Tenue. jeans.
A 14-ounce fabric will feel a little harsh in the beginning, but then it will become like a wax mould of your body. You wash it a couple of times and then it follows every turn and twist in your body until all of a sudden, it’s something that you don’t want to live without.
That takes two weeks and you hate those two weeks. And then you’ll love me after.
How did this partnership develop?
I have one rule in my company and that's we are a denim company. We are a five pocket jeans company. We make jean’s and those couple of items (like a good sweater and white t-shirt) that we believe are absolutely incredible that belong to jeans, they’re in the DNA.
There are also a few outerwear items that I absolutely see as one with the heritage of jeans and the varsity jacket is one of those beautiful classic items that sort of co-created the history of jeans.
The varsity jacket is one of those iconic items that we wanted to put in the hands of a real outerwear connoisseur. The PWVC factory in Manchester has an amazing fashion history. It’s like walking into a pristine fashion museum. There’s so much craftmanship and history. It’s everything that we are excited about.
There is no other factory that I know of in Europe, with more expertise and more history in creating iconic outerwear. We are quite amazing in making jeans, but I wanted to ask the best which is why I reached out to Mike and James because I wanted to make a piece by people that are so crazy about outerwear the way we are crazy about jeans.
How would you style the Varsity Jacket?
The beauty of jeans is the fact that they’re relevant, always. You can wear them to the office, on a dog walk, if you’re going out, with a nice, sexy t-shirt and high heels if you’re a girl (or even a boy). They're so versatile, relevant, and always cool.
That's what a varsity jacket is as well. You could cover a cocktail dress or you could cover an Italian tailored pair of formal pants. It doesn't matter where you put it on, it'll look good.
This is why you have all of those Hollywood movies where the girls steal the guys’ jacket and look amazing - even though they’re wearing double XL that was normally used by the quarterback they were going out with.
It doesn't matter when you’ll wear a Varsity jacket it’ll make you rock the night anywhere. This is why I was so ambitious to get this out there. And why there’s not really an answer to the question how should you style it? Because the varsity jacket will decide what the mood of the night will be. And I think there’s not a lot of products that are actually able to define what’s going to happen that night the way a pair of jeans or a good varsity jacket can.
The Tenue. x PWVC capsule is now available online, in-store and at Tenuejeans.com.
SHOP PWVC x TENUE.