3D Denim Archives
May 12, 2025
For some time, the d_archive team had been observing the work of ENDRIME® with both curiosity and admiration. Founded by Mohsin Sajid and Sadia Rafique, the London-based studio is renowned for its multidisciplinary approach to denim, where contemporary design meets deep archival research. Their archive of over 3,000 vintage denim and workwear pieces fuels a wide range of projects—from consulting and publishing to hands-on teaching at all major London fashion schools.
Mohsin and Sadia are celebrated by the global denim community for their expertise and commitment to the craft, bridging historical knowledge with forward-thinking ideas. We tried to reach out to Endrime to talk about their archival practice and see if there could be opportunities to work together but we didn’t have any luck at first.
In April 2024, we received an email from Susan Zheng, a recent graduate of London College of Fashion, who was seeking job opportunities and shared a brilliant project she had just completed. Titled A Future of the Past, the interactive educational VR experience featured four iconic denim garments, which Susan had digitally recreated through reverse engineering and digital craftsmanship techniques—methods closely aligned with those used by d_archive. Set within an immersive 3D environment, the project allowed users to explore the history and construction of each piece, offering a thoughtful and innovative take on how denim heritage can be experienced through emerging technologies.
Although we weren’t hiring at the time, we were happy to connect with Susan and talk about her approach to digitisation. Rather than stepping away, she proposed that we co-develop a new project and bring the idea directly to Mohsin.
And sooner than expected —just in a matter of days and a few emails— we met Mohsin in a video call and we were carried away by his tornado-esque enthusiasm and kindness. We were not short on ideas to start working together, we just needed to find the right context (and ahem, budget) to make them happen. We put our trust in Mohsin’s “Let me take care of it” confidence, which definitely turned out to be the right choice when he told us we will be showing our project during one of the biggest denim trade shows in Europe AND we also secured a budget for it.
The Project
Initially we decided to digitise four pieces from Endrime’s archives: the 1874 Levi’s Triple Pleat Blouse, Levi’s Type3 Trucker Jacket, a pair of unique scoop-pocket jeans by A.B. Elfelt and Co from 1876 and a pair of women’s work jeans from the 1930s. But considering how good Susan’s work already was, we added the other four styles she worked on for her graduate collection: a pair of 1940s fall-front jeans, the iconic Levi’s denim pantaloon from 1878, a 1940s rat-eaten Lee overall and the infamous 1999 Levi’s engineered jeans.
Susan, the only person living in London with physical access to Endrime’s archives, met with Mohsin and started the process of reverse-engineering and prepare a pattern draft of the four pieces initially chosen, while the d_archive team worked on polishing and refining her old 3D replicas, so that all eight models could have a cohesive look in the end.
Then the patterns were imported in the software and mocked up in 3D, where they got a few adjustments to make sure the shape and fit would match the original as closely as possible. We don’t want to claim they are 100% accurate, as that would be intellectually dishonest: with time garments tend to warp, twist and change shape due to usage and wear, reverse-engineering them to extract a pattern is a challenging task and not an exact science, most of all when they are more than a hundred years old.
We 3D modelled all the custom buttons and trims to finish the replicas.
The Triple Pleated Blouse buttons consist of a single thin piece of metal with embossed logos LEVI STRAUSS & CO. / S.F. CAL. To recreate the effect in 3D, we used a simple surface deforming tool that pushes the letters off the surface and creates the relief.
The A.B Elfelt button, has a radial pattern which was instead recreated procedurally using Substance Designer.
We then moved onto texturing the pieces we got into our usual dilemma: should we ignore the wear and tear and only focus on the garment pattern, fit and shape or should we attempt to include the damaged parts? At d_archive, we usually tend to opt for the first scenario, since reproducing the signs of time would take up an enormous amount of work and time, and it is usually not worth it since photos (or photogrammetry) could show the actual condition of the original much better. In this case though, some pieces like the rat-eaten overall and the women’s work jeans would have lost a lot of character in this process, so we decided to use a mixed method: Mohsin had access to a professional photo studio and photographed the garments lying flat, so that we could use the actual textures on our 3D replicas.
We used a mix of these photos, other PBR texture maps we had available and some procedural texturing to reach the final results.
The Show
On April 16th and 17th we presented the collaborative work at Kingpins Show in Amsterdam. We were given a booth in the “innovation boxes” at the entrance of the Sugar Factory building in which the tradeshow takes place twice a year.
The installation included the eight original pieces from Endrime’s archive, a hologram showing a looping video of their 3D replicas and physical replicas that were made by Rajby Industries starting from the patterns we reverse-engineered, cut in period-appropriate fabrics and finished with sustainable washing techniques.
We also printed some of the patterns developed as handouts for students who were visiting the booth and —surprise!— a book including photos, renders, work in progress and layplans for all the pieces. Mohsin is unstoppable once the idea sparks in his mind and we were happy to follow his lead on this extra component of the project.
The book can be purchased directly from Endrime’s online shop.
We might be working on a second edition soon, but we don’t want to spoil the surprise ; )
Daniele from the d_archive team participating in a panel talk.
The educational aspect of the project is what connected d_archive and Endrime: being able to reverse-engineer iconic denim pieces to make patterns and information freely available for the public, students first of all, was the main motivation that drove the collaboration. We also received feedback from visitors on how useful it is to have access to original archival pieces alongside technical material, that allows designers to study each piece in detail and speculate on how to take inspiration from them and potentially bring them in the 21st century.
Items
You can find all the items, their free PDF patterns, information and additional links in our gallery:
Acknowledgements: we want to thank Susan Zheng, who inadvertently started this fun project. Thanks to Mohsin and Sadia, that with their extensive knowledge taught us a lot about denim history, and reminded us of how beautiful it is to work with passionate people that are genuinely interested in creating meaningful projects in a fun and transparent way.
We would like to thank Rajby Industries for the support in the project and the Kingpins Show for giving us space and opportunity to present in Amsterdam.