114 WHAT'S THE STORY
Beauty for the Brand Beast - Papis Loveday’s birth name is Pape Badji. He is from Dakar and has 25 siblings.
The Real Deal Loveday Jeans. When things are running too smoothly, one may be tempted to become a little reckless. That’s not Ben Botas’ style. The owner of the fashion agency Ben And thought long and hard before deciding to launch an independent denim collection. Text: Dörte Welti. Photos: Loveday Jeans
Ben Botas offers his customers an all-inclusive service package. Their only job is to sell the products.
314 style in progress
The idea to launch an independent jeans brand took shape over a glass of wine. Ben Botas, a 33 year old fashion professional from Munich, was having dinner with his good friend Papis Loveday, who is arguably the world’s most famous black male model. The latter was then in the process of reinventing himself. He had said goodbye to the fashion world, launched his own champagne, and was full of creative ideas. At the end of the evening, the new jeans brand had a name, a face, and a creative director: Loveday Jeans, Papis Loveday, and again Papis Loveday. Ben Botas agreed to do the rest. He proved that he is not only a distribution expert, but also knows everything about production processes, when he introduced the Cervolante jacket range two and a half years ago. The excellent contacts with producers were the reason that Loveday managed to recruit the Italian designer and denim specialist Laura Pastrello, who designs for brands such as Diesel. “Everything is perfect”, Ben Botas raves. “We have super producers in Italy and a spectacular face for the brand. I believe in this project.” Close to the Customers
Spectacular is actually an understatement. Papis Loveday is the
darling of photographers everywhere and triggers enthusiasm wherever he goes. The 37 year old Senegalese is always personally present whenever Ben Botas implements one of the brand’s core ideas, namely live events in cooperation with existing high-end customers. Parties on the island of Sylt (with Different Fashion and more than 500 invited guests) and in Munich (with Pool and more than 600 guests) were a huge success and generated a lot of press interest for all involved. “Papis Loveday shows no fear of contact whatsoever”, Ben Botas says about his famous partner who has declared himself to be a little bit of a diva at times. “Papis’ open and friendly nature manages to persuade the most difficult customers and sceptics almost instantly.” By the way, the real stars of the show, namely the trousers, are proving to be extremely popular. According to Ben Botas, his company has already received positive feedback from high-end fashion specialists such as Jades in Düsseldorf and Abseits in Stuttgart. The brand offers three styles for men and women, sexy fits, unusual details such as a cloth with a seasonally changing design in the right rear pocket, paisley lining, and coloured seams. The style is very fashionable, very hip, and very sexy. This is a newcomer
trend label with added value, not least due to the interaction it can offer its customers. “We include the customers in our social media activity for the Loveday Community. We have assembled a team of specialists to ensure that the lifestyle image of both Papis Loveday and Loveday Jeans is communicated correctly for the benefit of the consumers.” A Good Brand
Ben Botas has thought of everything, including the fact that it can be helpful to have “social entrepreneurship” on your agenda. Loveday Jeans has established an official partnership with “Unesco Foundation - for children in need” and a defined portion of the sales is passed on to own charity projects in Senegal. This is definitely a business strategy that deserves a “like”.
Loveday Jeans c/o Brand Beast GmbH Georg-Muche-Straße 5 München/Deutschland T 0049.89.32308046 agency@ben-and.com www.loveday-jeans.com
