Description
1083 is a French brand of jeans, jackets and sneakers made in France, based in Romans-sur-Isère in the Drôme. Its name is the distance in kilometres between the two towns of mainland France that lie furthest apart: the brand wants its clothes to travel no further.
Thomas Huriez founded it in 2013 with a crowdfunding campaign. In 2024 the company had 100 employees and €12 million in turnover, and sold about 50,000 pairs of jeans a year. In 2018 it helped take over a spinning and weaving mill in Rupt-sur-Moselle, in the Vosges, now Tissage de France, which weaves 80 % of its denim; the jeans are sewn in a workshop on the same site. At the time only the raw cotton, buttons and rivets came from abroad. For its tenth anniversary the brand made a jean from cotton grown in the Gers and the Drôme mixed with recycled cotton, left undyed, and sold it at €169.
Its jeans cost €89 to €109 in 2018, and the average basket was €129 in January 2024. 1083 says one of its Vosges-made jeans emits 6 kg of CO2 against 32 kg for a fast-fashion pair; the figures are its own. The sneakers are also made in France, with fewer steps done in-house.
Strengths
- Spinning, weaving and sewing in France, mostly at a Vosges mill the brand helped save in 2018.
- A first jean from French-grown cotton, and work on recycled cotton to depend less on imports.
- Open about where each step takes place, and part-owner of the mill that weaves its denim.
Weaknesses
- At around €100 to €170, a pair costs several times as much as fast-fashion jeans.
- The CO2 and water figures are the brand’s own, not checked by an independent body.
- Most of the raw cotton is still imported, and the sneakers are less made in-house than the jeans.
Who it is for
People who buy few jeans, want them made in France with a supply chain they can follow, and accept paying for it.