We are Blackhorse Lane Ateliers

At our London atelier, we craft and offer ready-to-wear selvedge denim jeans, emphasising sustainability, community, and unparalleled quality. Established in April 2016, Blackhorse Lane Ateliers draws from our founder Bilgehan “Han” Ates’ 25 years of expertise in the textile industry

We have three main areas of focus

We manufacture our own ready-to-wear line of selvedge denim jeans. We offer multiple fits from modern slim to vintage wide, in multiple denims.

We’ve collaborated with like-minded brands including Drake’s, Christopher Raeburn, King & Tuckfield and more. We offer sampling & production services for clothing made with denim and similar heavy fabrics.

Based within a tastefully renovated 1920s factory building in Walthamstow, the brand combines the production of jeans with the establishment of a modern methodology for a community of makers – Think Global, Act Local.

Our company stands for three key things:


Quality: We use a mix of tailoring innovation and heritage construction to create garments  of unmatched quality. We truly believe that our jeans are the best in the world — and also the only jeans made in London for at least 50 years.

Community: We believe in growing the maker community in Walthamstow, London. We employ local machinists and offer shared ownership to each employee. Our atelier houses craftspersons working in artwork restoration, fashion design, weaving, and even a pop-up restaurant.

Eco-consciousness: We try to minimise the environmental impact of making denim garments by using organic cotton, denim woven in Europe, and offer a lifetime repair policy that discourages fast fashion.

The Denim Maker

Han

The Denim Maker

Mitko

The Denim Maker

Ivo

Denim lab process and laundry manager

Leanne

Indigo Gardens

Our Allotment

We have our own allotment based only 15 minutes walk from our front door. This very special tranquil place and is the oldest Allotment in London. It is close to the River Lea and Tottenham Marshes. Here we have started planting Japanese indigo and running workshops within the local community, both as a connection to nature and a way to educate.

The allotment is run by Leeza and Luisa who have vast knowledge of indigo, and are passionate about various creative dyeing techniques and will be running a Seed to Dye Course this year.

Store Manager

Wilbur

Head of Made to Measure

Lilly

The Restaurant

SlowBurn

Head of Digital

Illya

Press & Collaborations

We are proud to have collaborated with many of the best brands in fashion as well as local East London businesses. Our jeans, atelier and staff have also featured in wide range publications.

Memberships

We are Proud Members of the Following Organisations

East End Trades Guild

Local Buyers Club

Our Promise

We will work hard to ensure we put our customers and our employees welfare at the forefront of our
business activities.

We care about the planet and wish to help protect our natural resources to benefit the local economy in E17, Walthamstow.

To prove our commitment we will select our employees and our
suppliers according to 7 key criteria.

1. Quality standards assured
2. Locality to Blackhorse Lane
3. Provision of good service & fair pricing
4. Relationships of respect & trust
5. Like minded values
6. Consideration for our planet’s finite resources
7. Sustainable processes, repair and re-use wherever possible

All our employees will be given opportunity to be shareholders in the company Blackhorse Lane Atelier Ltd. through the Blackhorse Lane Employee’s Scheme.

All our employees will be paid a fair living wage and will not be subjected to Zero Contract hours.

We will continually monitor opportunities to work with new suppliers to achieve the most local and quality focused products and service wherever possible. This policy will be delivered for the advantage of our customers who we value highly as investors in our products. In circumstances such as growing cotton and the spinning and weaving of denim - where there is no local industry in London or the UK - we will work together with like minded 3rd parties to help change this. During this development process we will import offshore materials as locally as possible, and which will still be judged and selected according to our key criteria.

We will be an entirely open and transparent operation and will communicate to our customers all of our suppliers and their geographic location.

We will not work with suppliers unless we have visited their production facility and observed their business practice.

We will seek organic textile materials wherever possible.

We will follow the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, seeking continuous, achievable and realistic improvements each day.

We will establish our charitable foundation #THINK GLOBAL ACT LOCAL and appoint 7 trustees who will include independent members not connected to our business activities. The charity will freely benefit from 20% of the total square meterage of the Blackhorse Lane Ateliers Factory. The charity will use the funds generated from this building rental to financially support other local craftsmen in the E17 community and to help them establish their own businesses. These local craftsman will further benefit from the knowledge and skillset of the trustees.

We will aim to have some fun and enjoy our working environment and treat one another with respect, humility and goodwill in an open, transparent and multi-cultural community.