I'm the person who's constantly chasing the carrot when it comes to denim. I can't seem to find the perfect pair, regardless of how many I try. The very on-trend rigid fit may look cool, but it doesn't quite translate when I'm chasing my toddler on the playground. You know what else isn't cool? Constantly hiking up my super stretchy jeans that by noon are hovering under my hips. I love a high waist as much as the next gal, but not when I can't sit down at a restaurant, nor do I want a pair of jeans with a surplus of rips, holes or super frayed accents that I can't wear to go see my mom. But, at long last, I found the jean. I found the brand. AMO is a Los Angeles-based denim and apparel brand started by denim veterans Kelly Urban and Misty Zollars, who, as women, get what we all want out of denim and made that pair of jeans. Well, five to be exact. They launched Amo in 2015 with the classic five pair denim wardrobe and have since evolved to speak to more denim styles, as well as tee-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets. They're also undergoing a huge sustainability initiative. I took a moment to sit down with co-founders to chat all things denim, and the love these women clearly have for their jeans.
Kelly Urban and Misty Zollars
AMOWhat inspired you to launch Amo?
It’s a little selfish. Both of us couldn’t find the jeans we wanted to wear, so we set out to make the perfect pair. We dreamed of jeans that looked genuinely vintage, but also fit well and were comfortable to wear all day. We searched the globe for the perfect denim that had all the characteristics of a rigid, vintage pair of jeans but with a hint of stretch for comfort. Finding the ideal fabric helped us get the rest of the formula right. It allowed us to create these truly authentic washes, and that little bit of stretch in the denim went a long way in terms of comfort.
I can attest that you nailed that blend of structure and stretch. How do you describe the "philosophy" behind the brand?
Amo, simply translated, is the Latin root word for love. It’s our love and passion for denim, and essentially for women, that is at the foundation of the brand. We know how hard it is to find a pair of jeans that fit, and that you're truly excited to wear. When we hear from women about how much they love their Amo jeans, or see someone trying them on for the first time and beam with excitement as they look in the mirror, it reminds us of why we are here.
The Amo Bella Jean
AMOHow is Amo unique in the denim world?
We are a brand that is 100% owned and designed by women, which is especially unique in the denim world. As women, we know how jeans fit and feel on our bodies and all the little fit details that are so important to get right, like back pocket placement and how the waistband feels when you sit down. We have this very personal understanding of what it feels like to wear jeans everyday.
Where do you think Amo fits within the context of denim? Fashion?
We’ve always loved denim for its ability to transcend generations; your age really doesn’t matter and our wide range of customers definitely speaks to that. The denim world has so many options, and while our brand sits a little under the radar, we feel like those women who do know Amo truly love it - and we couldn’t be happier about that.
The Amo Ava Crop Jean
AMOHow has social media impacted your business?
Social media has given us a direct line of communication with our customers and we love that. We launched Amo as a wholesale brand, and that wholesale component still makes up over 90 percent of our business. It’s really interesting to hear from customers first-hand on which fits they like, as it sometimes differs from our wholesale accounts. We recently had a denim jumpsuit sell out, and had so many customers reaching out on Instagram asking us to recut the style that we finally said, 'Okay, let’s do it!' It marks the first time we made a style just for our web customers because they asked us to.
Is Amo always what is was intended to be or has it shifted in its evolution?
When we launched Amo, we only had a total of five jeans in the collection. We called it our “Essential Denim Closet.” It was purposely edited down to the five pairs of jeans we thought every woman needed in her closet. While we still take a very thoughtful and curated approach to each collection, we have grown and diversified the brand more than we ever thought we would. Denim remains at the foundation, but knits and non-denim bottoms are now a must-have component each season.
An Amo Tee
AMOWhat’s next for the brand?
The two things that stand out the most are growing Amo's e-commerce and challenging ourselves to be even more environmentally conscious about our production process. We work with a family-owned denim mill that shares our values in reducing waste and conserving resources whenever possible. The fabric we adopted when we launched Amo is considered a low impact, high efficiency fabric, and still makes up the majority of the denim we use today. It's a comfort stretch denim but has the look and character of rigid denim. The low impact/high efficiency part comes from the fabric dye that's free from harmful chemicals and fixing agents normally used in the production process. In turn, our own processing time at the laundry will take less resources and energy to achieve the worn-in denim look we want because of these capabilities.
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