Nigel Xavier Is Upcycling Denim Into Wearable Art

At just 30 years old, Nigel Xavier is a master upcycler.

He’s been doing it for years, though, to be fair, he started out of necessity. “I was in the dance culture, and it was a big part of it to have your own style,” he tells Fashionista. “But I realized I couldn’t find or afford what I wanted.” So he turned to upcycling, which ignited a love for design that he couldn’t ignore. He pursued that passion by majoring in fashion design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). There, he elevated his raw talent with technical knowledge and training.

“I was already exploring my style before I went into school, but all the fundamentals that go into running a brand — forecasting, building from sketches and all the technical things — were my biggest [takeaways],” he reflects. “Even the classes that were not directly infused with fashion, like Color Theory, were things that made me explore [new ideas] that I then brought back into my fashion design process.” 

Following graduation in 2016, Xavier says he quickly started building his eponymous label “from the ground up.” He took it step-by-step: He first found his photographer, Shamaal Bloodman, with whom he still works today. “That was the biggest thing because I could capture my work in such a beautiful way and exactly how I wanted it,” he says of the partnership. As he slowly publicized his work, Xavier steadily built relationships with stylists and their clients, which has helped him “build [an] even bigger community,” he notes

Xavier describes the brand as “definitely sustainable,” “very vintage but futuristic” and “a mix of ‘90s and early 2000s.” It makes sense, then, that on top of using upcycling as his craft, he reaches for denim as his choice fabric.

The designer can’t pinpoint exactly when or why denim began resonating with him. “I just fell in love with it,” he says. In high school, he would save his money and buy “every pair of Levi’s” he could get his hands on. When he started designing more seriously, transforming denim became a crucial part of his design process — including distressing, bleaching, dying and, later, patchworking.

“I see [my clothing] as an art piece,” he says. “It might not necessarily be something that someone would wear, but maybe just collect and have in their house and framed.”

In 2020, things took a massive turn for Xavier, for the best: He won Season 2 of Netflix’s “Next in Fashion” competition, walking away with $200,000 and a collection with Rent the Runway. Throughout the season, he put his signature patchworking and denim work on display, presenting in front of an influential lineup of guest judges like Donatella Versace, Bella Hadid, Jason Bolden, Olivier Rousteing, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and Isabel Marant.

Since winning, his life and brand have been, simply put, “insane.”

“It was one of the best experiences,” he reflects. “It spread my name worldwide and it’s something that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.” It also helped him rekindle his love for design as an art form compared to looking at it solely through a business lens. “It was just refreshing,” he says.

Since being on the show, business has been booming: Xavier has relocated his studio from Atlanta to Los Angeles and been approached with various partnership opportunities from brands like Dr. Pepper, Gushers and Meta AI. For the latter, he integrates the technology into his design process to efficiently cut down time. Meta AI offers advice and answers questions about fabric choices, sewing techniques and image inspiration.

“Before, I was super like, ‘Let me feel it.’ Let me just feel the energy, let me feel the fabrics and let me see what feeling I get from it. Then I got this opportunity and it was like, ‘Oh, wow. I’m going to be able to use this as almost like a superpower in the back of my vault if I need the help through or I hit a roadblock,'” he says of the technology.

He sees it as “an assistant” of sorts. “It is just going to be that extra little hand in that process while still staying true to me,” he shares. “It doesn’t take away [from] that. It just adds to it.”

For all the collab opportunities and publicity, scaling has been difficult to navigate: As an upcycling designer, it’s a tricky dance getting into the mass market without sacrificing his unique fabrics and intricate detailing.

“It is very hard,” he confesses. “To get the level of detail that I want and to get it exactly how I want it has been such a hard task. Working with a manufacturer, I’ve had to almost tone down my ideas. […] And it is costly to do the things that I want to do on a mass [scale].”

He continues, “Finding reliable people and figuring out the whole business side of it […] is the hardest part. The creating part is still pretty organic to me, but trying to find that balance of scaling and staying true to myself has been a very hard task.”

For the designer’s more involved pieces that are too intricate for manufacturing, he still offers one-of-one designs, which he’s been able to produce more of with the help of seamstresses. He sources materials from eBay, the internet, thrift stores and local antique shops.

On his website, key products include patchworked jeans, tapestry jackets, crochet shorts and skirts and cross-fabric accessories. Pricing — another challenge that Xavier’s “been trying to figure out” — ranges from $135 to $900. “I try to set a standard of where I see my items,” he says of his pricing strategy. “I would like it to be higher, but I still want it to be accessible.”

As he looks toward the future, getting into boutiques, opening his own store and building more community make up his growth plan.

“I want [shoppers] to feel something,” he says. “I want them to feel an emotion. I want people to feel unique, special and different and figure out how to stand out from the [rest]. That’s always been my direction.” 

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Source: Fashionista.com