Pop-up competition
FAST FADES
Registration 19 Sep to 15 Dec 2026
Three months only. Enter the pre-worn raw denim you have already put the miles into, and let the fades do the talking.
This is our first in-house competition, and it is a pop-up: it runs for three months and then it is gone. There is nothing to wear in and no clock to start. Every piece you enter has already done the work, so all you have to do is photograph it properly and tell us its story.
A year of wear is the entry bar, not the target. There is no upper limit and no prize for scraping in at a year and a day. Two years, five years, ten years deep is exactly what we want to see.
At a glance
- What to enter
- Raw denim jeans or jackets with at least one year of real wear behind them
- How many
- As many pieces as you like. One entry per garment, no cap on the number of garments
- Registration
- 19 September to 15 December 2026
- Entry deadline
- 15 December 2026. Judging starts once entries close
- Results
- Announced in the app and on our Instagram once judging is complete
- Where to enter
- In the DENIMHEAD app under the COMPETITIONS tab on the home screen, or on the web at denimhead.app in the same place
- Cost
- Free. No subscription required
Prizes
Sponsored by
How to enter
- Get the app and create a free account Entries are made in the DENIMHEAD app on iOS or Android, or on the web at denimhead.app. An account takes a minute and costs nothing.
- Add the piece to your wardrobe Every entry is tied to a garment in your DENIMHEAD wardrobe, so add it first with its brand, model and photos. If you have owned it for years, fill in its wear history while you are there. Enter the date you started wearing it, the days you typically wore it and roughly how many wears you have put in, and DENIMHEAD fills the history in backwards from there.
- Open the COMPETITIONS tab and choose FAST FADES You will find it on the main feed screen. The competition page carries the full rules and the current entry count.
- Register and accept the rules One tap. This records your acceptance against your entry.
- Pick the garment you are entering Choose it from your wardrobe. Only jeans and denim jackets are eligible.
- Add your fade photos and tell the story Front, back, a fade detail such as whiskers, honeycombs or elbows, a hem or repair shot, and one full-length shot. Then write the journey notes: where the piece has been, how often you wore it, how you washed it, and what happened to it along the way.
- Submit before 15 December 2026 You can keep editing your photos and notes right up to the deadline. To enter another piece, start again from step two.
Who can enter
- Open worldwide to anyone with a DENIMHEAD account, aged 16 or over.
- Enter as many garments as you like. Each garment may be entered once.
- DENIMHEAD staff, competition judges, and employees of Denimio, Hiut Denim and Superunknown cannot enter.
What you can enter
- Jeans and denim jackets only. No shirts, shorts or other garments this time round.
- Raw denim. The piece must have started life raw and unwashed. Sanforized or unsanforized, any weight, any mill, any brand.
- Every colour, and some patterns. All colours of raw denim are welcome, and some patterned denims are too, Wabash and sashiko among them. If you are not sure whether yours qualifies, ask us before you enter.
- At least twelve months of wear. Real, on-the-body wear. Older is better and there is no upper limit.
- You must have put the fades in yourself. Pieces bought already faded, vintage finds, and pieces broken in by someone else are not eligible.
- The piece must be in your DENIMHEAD wardrobe before you can enter it.
What is not allowed
Fades must come from wear alone. Any entry showing artificial distressing will be disqualified. That includes, but is not limited to:
- Sandpaper, emery cloth, pumice, wire brushes or hand-scraping
- Bleach, chlorine, acid wash, or any chemical stripping
- Enzyme wash, stone wash, sandblasting or laser finishing
- Blades, razors or scissors used to open holes, whiskers or honeycombs
- Any factory-distressed or pre-faded piece, however subtle
Repairs are welcome. Darning, patching, chainstitch hem repairs and crotch blowout fixes are part of the story, not a penalty. Washes and soaks of every kind are fine too. Wearing them into the sea is fair game. Attacking them with sandpaper is not.
Fade it fairly
- Starching is strongly discouraged. It manufactures contrast the wear has not earned, and it rarely fools anyone who looks closely.
- Let creases set on their own. Do not force them in. Our judges consistently prefer fades that look and feel entirely natural over ones that have been engineered.
- Do nothing that gives you an unfair edge over the other entrants. We have not tried to list every possible shortcut. If you are weighing up whether something counts as one, it probably does, so ask us rather than risk the entry.
Photos
- Five photos per entry: the verification shot above, then the back, a fade detail, a hem or repair shot, and one full-length shot.
- Photos must be your own, of your own garment, taken in natural light where possible.
- Crop and basic exposure correction only. No filters, no contrast pushing, no AI generation or editing. The judges look closely and are good at spotting it.
- Lighting and background do more for a fade shot than any camera. If you want the colour to come out true, Denim Hunters has a guide worth reading: how to photograph raw denim.
How entries are judged
A panel of judges scores every entry on:
- Depth of fade, how far the piece has actually travelled. This carries the most weight.
- Honesty of wear, whether the fade pattern reads as genuine, lived-in wear.
- Contrast and character, definition of the whiskers, honeycombs, stacks, seat and elbows.
- Evenness and wear pattern, how the piece has worn as a whole.
- Documented history, the wear and wash record behind it.
- Story, the journey notes you write alongside your entry.
Entering several pieces does not improve the odds for any one of them. Each entry is judged on its own merits, and one entrant may win only one prize. The judging panel is subject to change. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Any entry believed to be artificially distressed or misrepresented will be removed.
Key dates
- 19 September 2026, registration opens.
- 15 December 2026, entries close. Last chance to add or update photos and notes.
- After 15 December, judging. Winners announced in the app and on our Instagram once it is complete.
Prize terms
Winners are notified by email, so keep the address on your DENIMHEAD account up to date, and must respond within 30 days. Prizes are provided directly by the sponsors and are subject to the terms of the issuing sponsor. They cannot be exchanged for cash or transferred to another person. Sponsors may ask winners to cover shipping costs on physical prizes, and any duties or taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner.
General
- By entering you confirm the garment is yours, the wear is yours, and the photos are yours.
- You keep ownership of your photos. By entering you allow DENIMHEAD and the sponsors to show your entry in the app, on this website, and on our social media channels including Instagram, in connection with this competition, with credit to your username.
- The Terms of Use and Privacy Policy of DENIMHEAD apply throughout.
- The promoter is DENIMHEAD LTD. Questions? Get in touch.
