Dao

Dao is proof you can make jeans in France, in your own workshop, from organic cotton, and make a living. Davy Dao created his brand in Nancy to bring logic back to an industry that desperately needs it.

Davy Dao was born in Troyes in 1980, into a large Vietnamese family. At 11, he started repairing his older brothers' worn jeans on the family sewing machine. The kid didn't know it yet, but he'd just found his calling. As a teenager in Nancy, his unusual style drew comments - he didn't care, he was already designing his own patterns.

In 2006, he registered the Dao trademark. But before launching, he traveled to Vietnam to find his parents' roots. What he saw there left a lasting mark: working conditions in textile factories, child labor. He returned to France a year later with one certainty - he would do things differently.

The beginnings were humble. In 2012, Davy sewed his first jeans in his student studio with three second-hand machines. In 2014, he opened his shop at 5 rue Saint-Nicolas in Nancy, workshop upstairs. A 2016 crowdfunding campaign launched the brand. By 2020, he moved into a new 500m2 workshop near central Nancy: 15 employees including 4 seamstresses, around fifty machines, 250 to 400 pairs per month.

Dao is uncompromising made-in-France denim. Organic cotton, linen, Japanese selvedge, fabrics woven in Spain, all assembled in Nancy. Oeko-Tex certified. On specialist forums and in made-in-France circles, the brand is mentioned alongside 1083 and Le Gaulois as a longevity reference. FashionNetwork calls them "the cleanest jeans in France."