Blaak Launching Jeans With Lapis Lazuli

CRYSTAL CLEAR: British fashion label Blaak is getting into the science of healing denim — launching jeans with crystals attached to the interior of the waistband. It starts with lapis lazuli. “Lapis lazuli makes you feel more grounded,” explained cofounder Aaron Sharif. And more mundanely, these stones don’t break in the washing machine, unlike crystals such as coral, he noted. “We wanted to go back to the root of when we started Blaak,” explained Sharif, who cofounded the label in 1988 with Sachiko Okada. Initially a denim label, the brand changed its offer to ready-to-wear, presenting during London Fashion Week between 2001 and 2004 and in Paris between 2004 and 2011. “We stopped rtw in 2012 and started researching the stones’ technique.” While the company is based in London, the jeans are developed in Switzerland, woven in Japan and made in Portugal. There is one style for men in three colors — indigo, black denim and overdyed black denim — retailing for 250 British pounds, or $371 at current exchange (and 225 British pounds, or $324 for the version without stones.) Blaak denim is to be sold on the label’s Web site at the end May — coinciding with its relaunch with an e-commerce

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