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Do you remember the first time you ever saw a jouch? Regardless if you’ve experienced this marvel up close in the flesh, the jean couch lives amongst us—maybe not directly for some, but it’s certainly present in the homes of others. For many people, memes have provided an entry point into the wacky world of denim furniture. While the most amusing image, “What if we kissed on the jouch?”, began circulating in 2019, the history of the jean couch can probably be traced back a few decades. But as far as I’m concerned, the jouch is a product of the Y2K era.
While the jouch has mostly served as the butt of an ongoing joke, it isn’t necessarily a red flag for interiors. When interior designer David Ko discovered a limited edition denim Soriana lounge chair in Cassina’s catalog, he had to have it for his Los Angeles condo. “I just love the jean concept, how it wears over time, and how they fit,” he says about his passion for the fabric. “[The chair] really does tie my two obsessions together and epitomizes who I am, I love it so much.”
In more recent years, designers that prioritize sustainability within their practice have turned to upcycled denim as a primary material. Elise McMahon has been working with denim ever since she launched LikeMindedObjects in 2016. In addition to chairs, ottomans, and cushions in a range of denim shades, the designer also sells pillow inserts made out of recycled denim composite fabric—an alternative stuffing to petroleum based polyfill—through her closed-loop initiative CRCL.EARTH. “In the sustainability world, people are really going in on denim as this ‘America’s addicted to denim,’” she says. “We love denim, it’s this quality, durable material.”
Denim has always been extremely popular amongst the crafty DIY crowd. Long before the “denim era” was a trending topic on TikTok, my friends and I used to bejewel our jeans with a BeDazzler during the late ’90s. As a teenager, I was desperate to know how it felt to slip on a pair of low-rise True Religion jeans when the appeal was at its peak thanks to the flock of A-list celebrities that flaunted them. (I never had the pleasure, but it was truly for the best because I couldn’t have handled all that power.) Nearly a decade later, The New York Times declared that denim was having an identity crisis and I honestly couldn’t agree more. Like most things in life, denim exists on a spectrum where sexy sits at one end and tacky falls on the other.
“Denim patchwork like DIY world and making a couch out of jeans is just something that you see on Etsy or Craigslist,” Elise says. “It can be very folk art and then it can go down the visuals of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears with their Canadian tuxedo... It’s so iconic and so bad, but in that early Y2K period it was also so celebrated.”
Sarah Nsikak of La Réunion has learned to embrace the tackiness of denim in the wake of repurposing materials. Originally from Oklahoma, the Nigerian American designer is no stranger to the types of consumers that would unironically buy a new denim couch with pockets on the pillows. “It’s not repurposed, it’s just cute to them and I think that’s valid,” she says. “It’s not everyone’s taste, it’s a certain person.” In addition to clothing, Sarah has made tote bags and patchwork poufs out of repurposed denim. She appreciates how there’s a playful element to denim that can add a touch of practicality to a domestic space, and most importantly: “You don’t have to be precious with it.”
“I love the idea [of a denim couch] because denim is one of the most tried and true, it’s got the staypower over most textiles when it comes to durability,” Sarah says. “I always think about ways to use denim because it’s everywhere, but furniture needs to be more casually slipped into the options so people aren’t wondering what the possibilities are.”
Earlier this year, Crosby Studios founder Harry Nuriev presented a denim-themed exhibition at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris which featured functional objects made out of the material. From tables and seating to mirrors and exercise equipment, all of the pieces were created to serve modern needs. As the designer previously told Vogue, “In the same way that you layer your jeans, T-shirts, and jackets in the order you want, I want my furniture to adapt and shape itself according to the user’s wishes.”
David points out how denim, like corduroy, is assigned as a material used for clothing rather than upholstery for contemporary furniture which is probably why we don’t see more of it within the interior landscape. “I think it is this weird taboo of ‘Oh, I don’t mix the two together,’” he says. “It’s starting to become more and more done, but it’s not super commercialized.” Sarah agrees with this stance, noting that there’s a different type of familiarity associated with denim. “We don’t wear leather really, but we like to have a leather sofa,” she adds. “It’s not familiar to your skin… I love the look of a leather sofa so much and I grew up with it, but it always took me a while to settle into it—my body had to warm it up.”
But if denim is such a wardrobe essential then why isn’t it a household essential too? Elise blames denim’s bad rep on negative connotations that have people convinced that it’s an anti-luxury material. “I feel like every white couch I see ends up looking really saggy and sad whereas denim holds its shape, it’s a very structured material,” she argues. “There’s really no reason why denim shouldn’t be more adopted except it’s not perceived as a luxury material.”
While it can be difficult to get people to break out of their comfort zones in regards to fabrics, some interior designers have been eager to experiment with the textile. Denim can be tastefully done, as proven by Neal Beckstedt when he designed an East Hampton compound where “the heart of the house” is a conversation pit covered in Japanese denim. After noticing that his client had a “denim-heavy wardrobe,” he insisted on designing the sunken lounge area around the fabric, which then extended to the rest of the interiors. (One of the bedrooms even features a blue denim wall covering.)
Elise is thrilled to see the aesthetics of upcycling being embraced by a new generation of design aficionados, and is curious to see how this wave of elevating of denim continues to take shape. She also considers the arrival of this trend as an opportunity for more designers to facilitate conversations around ongoing issues like pollution and overly scaled, injustice-based manufacturing. (As the global denim market is projected to reach $107 billion by 2023, jeans contribute 2.16 million tons of waste to landfills every year.) The concept of “sustainable denim” is still a gray area, but integrating this type of approach is a small step in the right direction.
“A small boutique studio is not going to necessarily save the world with their luxury pieces of furniture, but I do think that the space for design is to initiate those conversations and elevate materials that otherwise are being treated like waste,” Elise explains. “Elevating what is a really durable, long-lasting workwear material into a high-design space also implies a timeless commitment to the things that we’re buying instead of the disposability of less durable materials.”
Prior to starting 69, the designer behind the all-inclusive lifestyle brand had only ever been exposed to denim outside the fashion realm in secondhand shopping settings. “The only denim furniture I’ve ever really come across is a thrift store couch that someone’s reupholstered themselves with either old jeans or just denim,” they recall. “I slept on denim bed sheets for many years, I found them to be very comfortable. I love how they wear and fade.”
Mostly known for their experimental denimwear, 69 presented their first solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2018. Since then, the Los Angeles–based designer has been transitioning into the furniture and soft goods space, so denim couches and chairs are currently a work in progress. “It’s quite a shift to go from making clothing to making these substantial objects that are meant to be in your life forever and provide comfort,” they explain. “There’s a lot involved and right now I’m trying to work with structures that exist because there’s so much out there and it’s like, ‘Okay, all this needs is a cover.’”
In 2021, the now defunct Gallery Dept. dropped a swivel chair made out of blankets of vintage denim scraps. Surely, the demand for products like this will rise as more people buy into the idea of dressing the furniture in their spaces. “I love when people dress like their furniture,” Elise says. “I love the connection between fashion and furniture, and I feel like the upcycling fabric developed from secondhand clothing is specifically pulling them together.”
At the end of the day, it doesn’t get more Americana than denim. (The founder of 69 considers it to be “the most democratic fabric.”) David thinks that when denim furniture is presented by brands like Cassina and LikeMindedObjects, it automatically feels more “refined, current, and luxurious” because it’s being marketed to a more high-end clientele base. David views his denim chair as an investment piece ahead of a greater denim resurgence with fashion brands like Blue Marine and Area as the frontrunners. Once those gates have officially been opened, the market will be saturated with an influx of denim sofas. “I think we are going down that path and I honestly would not be surprised if Urban Outfitters is already working on their version of it,” he adds. “I can definitely see it coming through.”
In terms of denim’s future in furniture, Sarah thinks there’s plenty of room for it in a home—and within the design world at large. “I’d like to see the aging process of a chair or sofa made with raw denim, it’s almost like the patina of leather in a different way,” she says. “I think we can all take ourselves less seriously and try something that’s not on trend for once, for the sake of the planet. Let that be our motivator instead of things that we have to destroy it further to produce.”