Your music: Hard Rock: Led Zeppelin, Nickelback, Foo Fighters, ACDC, Jet
Your brand: Fidelity

The story:
With a passion for helping women look and feel their very best, Jason Trotzuk founded Fidelity Denim in January 2005, fusing the appeal of classic American blue jeans with a more sexy European sensibility. For nearly two years he has steadily guided the luxury denim brand into such retail outlets as Fred Segal, E Street Denim, Len Druskin and Caruso Caruso, maintaining a boutique approach by limiting its availability to such fashion-forward markets as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta and Dallas.

Jason Trotzuk strategically takes his insights from concept to creation when designing Fidelity. A denim lover at heart, Trotzuk combines his love for fashion, rock n’ roll, and classic American blue jeans, and applies it toward his passion, denim design.

Trotzuk, who calls Vancouver home, even when constantly traveling and working with clients in NYC, LA, Montreal, and Toronto, has known for a long time that he was destined to be a denim designer. By 18, he was hand-painting blue jeans in his parent’s basement. From his humble beginnings this labor of love not only put him through college, but was also his creative outlet into the world of fashion.

“I would take old pairs of Levi’s and make these hand painted one-of-a-kind jeans with velvet flames and lace trim, the kind of stuff Jimi Hendrix would have worn, it was all very rock n’ roll,” said Trotzuk. Sound cool? These custom jeans sold on Vancouver’s Robson Street for several hundred dollars a pair. Luckily, Trotzuk kept the dream alive.

Fidelity Denim made its Canadian debut in early 2005 before hitting U.S. boutiques in January 2006. Trotzuk chose to develop his own concept premium denim brand and recognized what women wanted in their jeans: great fabric, finishes, and fit and with those elements they would be loyal, trusting, and devoted customers. Trotzuk saw his supporters and clientele who believed in him and loved his work.

With his intimate knowledge of denim history and tradition, Trotzuk ingeniously references and revives the best of denim from the inside out—straight waistbands, busted out seams, dual stitch color, and aged hardware. The result? The look and feel of timeless vintage jeans, but with a highly crafted modern understanding of a woman’s needs.

BeansTalk especially admires Trotzuk for founding the Fidelity Indigo Foundation, a non-profit division of the company that raises monetary aid and awareness for beneficiaries of concern to the company’s core consumer. Various breast cancer organizations have already received support through the sale of specially made or limited edition jeans and through branded events.

BeansTalk (ME note: All these denim interviews were conducted by A. Goodwin) had to chat up a guy likes hard rock, so we got him to answer a few of our questions recently:

AAG: What European design elements or themes do you bring to your denim line? Are the dreamy and natural blues you hold in your imagination the blues of Europe? Vancouver?

JT: Canada is part of the commonwealth, and most of the immigrants in the last 100 years are of European decent. European fashion is 300 years in the making, it is the birth of fashion couture and ready to wear. America is a babe in the woods when it comes to fashion, (unless you consider the pilgrims stylish). The great American contribution to fashion is the Blue Jean. Being a denim designer from Canada (in Vancouver) I hybrid the classic American blue jean with the Euro passion for looking fabulous.

AAG: With diamonds women compare the four "C's". With denim, you say that women should have the three "F's" in mind - fabric, finishes, and fit. These elements seem to come together to make a particularly original statement in the Japan Rose style. What inspired this versatile silhouette?

JT: On the basis of making classic styling.. I wanted to make a jean that encompasses both the “sexy of skinny” and “beauty of boot cut.” The Japan Rose captures both of these in a single brush stroke. The fabric was the secondary breath for which the grey denim gave life to this wonderful piece

AAG: The 24 carat detailing in your denim seem to reflect a gold standard that you have for quality. Can you tell us more about this particular feature?

JT: It came to me a few years ago from a request from a customer who couldn’t wear jeans because the metal in the inside caused a rash...Gold is one the only non metallurgic metals I could think of using...so it came from out of practicality, I then thought, wow what a brilliant idea... gold hardware..why hadn't someone though of it... No matter, I did it and it was fabulous....there have been a few copy cats since

AAG: You must be proud to contribute to women's causes, particularly the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Has your life been touched personally by this disease? How is your foundation expanding into the global women's movement.

JT: Companies these days have a moral obligation to contribute to society, either environmentally or socially. I chose breast cancer because of how many live it has affected, more importantly, how many of my customers’ lives it has affected... I want to do my part to help my customer and make a difference. I have been blessed not to have anyone directly affected of BC yet...If I do, I pray I can cope. As soon as possible, I will bring my foundation to a global movement...as my brand grows, the foundation will too...I’m blessed to be in a position I can help, for that I am grateful.

AAG: Lastly, and most importantly - what kind of music do you listen to?

JT: Music with sparks!! I’m always listening to everything...What I’m listening for is sparks! Sparks of originality, fire, and passion... These can be interpreted in many ways; therefore all types of music deserve to be heard. Music today is so hard to find sparks of any kind. What music has sparks you ask: Nirvana, Sublime, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Bob Marley, Beethoven, Who, Patsy Kline...

Thanks for taking the time, Jason. (We would have called him Mr. Trotzuk, but we feel that anyone who knows us so well as to design jeans for our hips and thighs with such, well, knowledge, we have the right to be on a first name basis with.)

More style tips from Fidelity’s website:

Dark indigo rinses, definitely. Black is huge. Excessive whiskering and gimmicks are giving way to clean lines, elegance... sophistication. Women want complexity in a jean, from the fabrics, to the fits and finish, wearing Fidelity is an all-encompassing experience.

Fidelity Fall ’06 is about options, even for the style religious. The Japan Rose, the Plumaria and the Juniper all offer a slender leg yet with a bit of balance down below. Take your skinny with some relief (plus they all tuck beautifully into boots).

For those who crave classics, there’s mid-rise boot cut Belladonna, bestseller five-pocket Hyacinth or the season’s darling NEW trouser cut, The Dream. With higher rises, streamlined inseams and clean lines this section of the Fidelity family is made to erase imperfections and flatter your rear end. When it comes to this year’s classics black is back. Try a classic in Astral Dark wash or the new black Onyx or Heritage rinse for a sleek, polished look.

Heritage Denim: history meets science—a Fidelity treasure … Earthy, homespun, hand crafted, Vintage Americana style denim. Full of character and texture thanks to a purposefully uneven warp and weft. When rinsed—raw linen nuances prevail. Sulphur dipped bottom yarns (as was customary during the early days of denim, to prevent spoilage) shade the indigo deep-sea blue. Rich, complex…an instant classic.

Imperial Denim: Introducing the rebel black sheep of the Fidelity family. Specially treated with a black resin enabling the indigo to take on a deep blue/ black look. Long vertical slubs and dark nuances on the seams give a long, lean and mean look but a 12oz weight and 2% stretch keep it feminine.

Silk Denim: a perfectly silky finish and a beautifully smooth hand—a deep dark stretch developed especially for FIDELITY at a 118 year old Japanese mill. Ring spun yarns, pure indigo dye. Very evening, very dressy. Uniquely constructed with perfectly even warp and weft to get even better with age. A soupcon of stretch for great hold. 24 karat hardware embellishes the navy with perfect gold. Denim with a great future.

Onxy Denim: Black denim has finally made an impression in the buyers mind for fall. Onyx Dark show metallic nuances and the Onyx Vintage washed down version is silvery/ grey in appearance with just the right amount of abrasion. Onyx Vintage is very rebellious and is very refreshing. Both colors cross into casual and dressy looks for evening or day.
Eat meets west and skinny embraces boot cut

What we think: We are strong endorsers of the Japanese Rose “skinny flare” jeans. We couldn’t believe our fine selves when we slipped these on. For a second we mistook ourselves for their fit model, but then we remembered that we are a married mother of two. Thanks, Jason, this jean has a really figure-flattering and original silhouette. It sits low on the hips, is slim through the thigh and knee, and then offers a very moderate boot cut at the bottom. For those readers who are afraid to go “all the way” with the super skinny jean, or you did it in the 80’s and you are not sure you can pull it off again twenty years later - this is the best of both the skinny and boot cut worlds. Although it is available in both imperial indigo and onyx vintage, we encourage our readers who may be in a blue denim rut to branch out and try the onyx. We were surprised at how rich it was. Remember this season: black is the new black. Pocket Detail: 3 pc "F" Pocket.

BeansTalk recommends that you try Fidelity jeans if you program you ipod with what we call “Music You Feel in your Loins.” This might also be known as hard rock, but who could deny the rush of heat and hormones you feel when listening to such bands as Led Zeppelin, Guns and Roses, or the Who - anything moan-y and scream-y and accentuated with unforgettable pulse-pounding guitar riffs.

By the way, if you are a classic rock fan, you might be especially big on the new bands that have clear influences from the hard rock of the 70’s and 80’s. BeansTalk was listening to the new Nickelback album, “All the Right Reasons”, this weekend, and definitely heard echoes of James Hetfield from Metallica in the vocal style, as well as Foreigner in the overall sound and lyrics. (Download “Animals” and see if you don’t think of “Hot Blooded”) Also, we especially think hard rockers will love Jet, who have released two great albums, “Get Born” and “Shine On.” It is so clear that these guys worship at the alter of their Aussie predecessors – the almighty ACDC. Anyway, BeansTalk thinks that hard rock listeners will relate to the design sensibilities of Jason Trotzuk. We don’t need to say anything more - the guy paints velvet flames for Jimi - for crying out loud.

Look for Fidelity at the above mentioned stores or at www.fidelitydenim.com