Marlowe started in 2017 with one secondhand chain-stitcher and a bolt of selvedge in a shared garage in West Oakland. Today we are fourteen people on one long bench, cutting jeans, jackets, shirts and workwear in runs of eighty or fewer. We hem every pair for free, keep a darning machine running for repairs, and design every block so it ages better than it started.
The workshopCloth first
We buy selvedge from two family mills and design around what the cloth wants to do: fade high, rope at the hem, soften at the knee.
Fit second
Seven fit blocks, each graded by hand across fifteen waist sizes, and every pair hemmed free to the length you actually wear.
Forever third
Bar-tacked stress points, felled seams, copper rivets. And when something still gives, the repair bench fixes it free, for life.
How a drop happens
Sketch. Cut. Dye. Drop.
1Cloth
Rolls of selvedge arrive from the mill and rest for a week before cutting, so the cloth settles and shrinks evenly.
- 2
Cut
Patterns are laid by hand along the selvedge edge, so the red ID line runs straight down every outseam.
3Hem
Every pair is hemmed to order on a chain-stitcher, the stitch that makes a hem rope after a few washes.
4Wear
Then it is yours. Wear it hard. When it needs it, send it back and the bench darns, patches and re-hems for free.
#MarloweDenim
