Karachi / New York: AGI Denim is proud to showcase Ceramic Blue at Kingpins New York, a bold new concept that pushes denim fading to its most expressive limits. Developed through extensive research and garment testing, Ceramic Blue introduces a sharper contrast between highs and lows in abrasion, addressing a desirable visual effect in the denim industry known as chip-off character.
At the heart of Ceramic Blue is AGI Denim’s exclusive Chip-off Technology, a proprietary system designed to enhance this natural fading behavior while improving production efficiency and reducing resource use.
For years, leaders across the fashion and apparel sourcing world have asked a fair question: Why do we use so much indigo and resources to make denim as dark as possible, only to wash most of it out in the finishing process? It’s a legacy approach that looks great in the end, but comes with a heavy cost: more water, more energy, more chemicals.
The reason is clear to anyone who works closely with denim. Designers have a deep understanding of what gives denim its enduring appeal. When they create light washes, they are not just looking for a pale shade. They are chasing for a light wash with depth of color. They want washes that still hold onto their indigo in the right places, with visible highs and lows that create movement, texture, and a sense of time.
That’s where Ceramic Blue comes in. Even with a lighter indigo base, it delivers the kind of rich, vintage-style contrast usually reserved for much darker shades. In many cases, it goes even further, creating more pronounced highs and lows, more dimension, and more character while using less dye and fewer resources.
“Chip-off refers to how indigo dye wears away from the raised parts of a garment, such as seams, yarn slubs, and puckered zones, where friction is most concentrated,” says Henry Wong, VP Product Development & Marketing at AGI Denim. “These high-contact areas fade faster, revealing lighter tones beneath the surface. The result is a strong visual contrast between worn peaks and protected valleys that gives denim its distinctive character.”
This effect is rooted in the way denim is constructed. Twill weaves produce ridges. Slub yarns introduce uneven thickness. Seams create height through layering and thread tension. Shrinkage causes natural puckering. All of these elements form textured surfaces with peaks and valleys that interact differently with abrasion.
Indigo is a fugitive dye. It does not fully penetrate the cotton fiber, but instead adheres to the yarn’s outer surface. As garments are worn or finished, the dye is gradually worn away from elevated areas while remaining intact in the lower regions. Chip-off captures and amplifies this behavior by design, resulting in directional fading with greater depth and clarity.
Ceramic Blue is the first AGI Denim product built to showcase this phenomenon. It delivers garments with a truly broken-in look from the start, offering designers a new tool for achieving bold, high-contrast fades.
About AGI Denim: AGI Denim (Artistic Garment Industries) is a leading vertical premium denim manufacturer in Pakistan, with a long-standing history dating back to 1949. The company is at the forefront of the industry, committed to minimizing its environmental impact while maximizing social and economic benefits. AGI Denim's innovative culture and commitment to sustainability and social responsibility are reflected in its best-in-class infrastructure, end-to-end LEED Gold certification, and B Corp certification.
- The company strongly emphasizes responsible fiber sourcing and traceability, ensuring its products are produced ethically and sustainably. Water stewardship is also a key focus, with a high percentage of recycling and responsible use of this precious resource. AGI Denim's commitment to renewable energy is demonstrated through its use of modern plants and machinery that are energy-saving, efficient, and increasingly powered by solar energy.
