In the normal production process, hundreds of yards of tested denim swatch panels go to waste. Crespatrick de los Reyes, owner and head designer of the Dallas-based luxury denim brand Crescente Patricio, has made his name turning one man’s trash into another man’s staple piece.
For quality control purposes, each batch of a denim product endures a wash test to measure the gradual amount of shrinkage in the dyeing process. A large square of fabric is trimmed from the sample and tested, creating what the industry calls a “shrink blanket.” While working for a denim manufacturer in Los Angeles, de los Reyes found years of shrink blankets collecting dust. “I wanted to start making stuff for myself,” he says, “and I have this free fabric here that I can just start making stuff with.”
At first he thought it was just an economical way to launch a brand; he never thought he’d limit himself to an indigo palette. But since he founded Crescente Patricio, in 2018, de los Reyes hasn’t strayed from his humble muse.
“I love denim,” he says. “I think it’s a beautiful fabric that can do a lot more than people think. It’s a staple that’ll always be around. ”
In the beginning, de los Reyes hand-stitched custom pieces. As demand grew, the designer moved to high-quality factory production, using custom-dyed deadstock denim to create a line of made-to-order, ready-to-wear items.
The cowboy culture of the region provides the perfect inspiration.
“While I love making very limited pieces, like making five of a jacket, it’s not scalable,” de los Reyes says. “I thought, I have a lot of these raw fabrics. I think this is the next step into being able to make more pieces and being able to sell more.”
De los Reyes relocated to Dallas from Los Angeles with his wife after he felt a cosmic need to stay during a Christmas visit. He now splits his time between here and New York, appearing at pop-ups and stores in both cities and working regularly with brands such as The Sabah Dealer and By Way of Dallas (the latter owned and designed by his close friend Hance Taplin). Crescente Patricio also features merchandise drops on its website and Instagram account, including its popular Saddle Pocket jackets.
For that piece and more, the cowboy culture of the region provides the perfect inspiration.
“The theme of Western is trending in these southern and western states and cities,” he says. “It’s a lifestyle in a lot of places in the DFW area, but then to also see it as a trend is really cool. Everyone’s doing the whole denim-on-denim thing.”
This story originally appeared in the July issue of D Magazine with the headline “New Designs on Old Denim.” Write to feedback@dmagazine.com.
