NoKo Jeans: Sweden To Sell Jeans Made In North Korea (VIDEO)

UPDATE: NoKo Jeans were pulled from Sweden's shelves. Read about it here.

Three Swedish advertising executives are attempting international diplomacy...through denim. Their company, NoKo Jeans, has produced 1,100 pairs of jeans in the so-called Hermit Kingdom that will go on sale December 4th at Stockholm's PUB department store. Each pair will cost 1,500 Swedish kronor (about $220).

Founder Jakob Ohlsson told the BBC that the jeans will only be available in black denim because North Koreans "usually associate blue jeans with America. That's why it's a little taboo".

Ohlsson, fellow founder Jacob Astrom, and a third partner--all in their 20s--contacted North Korea via e-mail in 2007 and didn't expect a response. However, after a year, they were allowed into the country as official visitors and the jeans were produced over the summer.

Check out the jeans here, in a photo by NoKo Jeans:

NoKo posted this video describing their journey:

HELLO IT'S Noko Jeans! from Noko Jeans on Vimeo.

Ohlsson told the BBC: "It's a country that sometimes treats its citizens terribly, but we think our project is a way... to influence things."

Reuters reports that the partnership was involved and at times puzzling:

At one point they were asked to bring a zinc smelting oven into the country, and a trade representative once asked them to help him find a pirated version of the computer program Adobe Acrobat so he could read files they were sending him.

"Everyone is a manager. Even our chauffeur was some sort of manager," said founder Jakob Ohlsson, adding that North Korean titles were often confusing.

An excerpt from their production trip in the summer of 2009:

This is Our Factory from Noko Jeans on Vimeo.

The jeans cannot be worn in North Korea, which follows a strict Socialist dress code.

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Comments

[KataVideo]

12:04 PM on 12/05/2009

I'd never trust any product from there, especially one that covers Mr. Happy.

[AgnesBankhead]

06:57 AM on 12/05/2009

the brand name shoulda been

NoKoFF Jeans .........

[tanx8]

06:13 AM on 12/05/2009

This is a cheap publicity stunt that takes advantage of the disable. It's disgusting...

[AirViceMarshalPark]

05:15 AM on 12/05/2009

No worries, mate.

The jeans come in one size only and you have to be very short, with a pot belly, for them to fit.

[margarets opinion]

08:34 PM on 12/03/2009

wonderful news. Good that Huffington Post has an eye for this kind of story. Trade is essential to bring peace. This is a start, no matter how small. It's in the right direction. Are these jeans available online? I'd buy a pair.

[EndangeredJackalope]

03:13 AM on 12/04/2009

All this money is just going to the regime though.

[hama66]

06:28 PM on 12/03/2009

if walmart, disney or any other american country did what these two idiots are trying to do we would be calling them paragons of corporate greed and rightfully so. they are selling the jeans for $220 each. how much are they buying them for and how much is going to the ladies sewing them together? DISGUSTING moral relativists. and the swiss dare to chide us about social responsibility!!!!

[spitz]

09:12 PM on 12/04/2009

How dare all of the SWISS chide all of US. Don't they know what several Swiss people have done!?

[mamacat]

05:55 PM on 12/03/2009

So what?

Any body remember Vietnam? I can go down to the mall and pick up some very well made, very inexpensive clothes, made in Vietnam. The Korean War was further in the past than the Vietnam War, but both places had a whole lot of Americans die there, and both places are Communist dictatorships today.

Are we only going to trade with countries we defeated in war? Now that I think of it, that probably is part of the Republican Party platform.

[comicpro]

04:49 PM on 12/03/2009

Yeah that will get them back from the stone ages! North Korea and Cuba: two countries whose leaders need to get a clue.

[tcastillo]

06:06 PM on 12/03/2009

It's their countries they should run them the way they want. This is a nice start for North Korea.

[hama66]

06:23 PM on 12/03/2009

it's not the poeple's country and shouldn't it be run the way its people want? not run by a tyrant propped up only by his control of the military. moral relativism is so dangerous.

[comicpro]

06:59 AM on 12/04/2009

Its funny how you trash other peoples opinions yet we are supposed to agree with you? Thats whats wrong with America. You cant agree to disagree. I typically preface my replies to someones post by saying I respect your opinion but in this case because you are a knuckle dragging mouth breathing troll I will refrain from that respectfully of course.

[tcastillo]

06:08 PM on 12/03/2009

People do not understand that when you manipulate others, especially those of leadership, it never works in any relations. These Swedish guys are smart.

[LMPE]

04:15 PM on 12/03/2009

Just what the world needs: more sweatshop clothes.

[winningticket]

10:17 AM on 12/05/2009

Yes that would unfairly compete with America's sweatshop in the CNMI (Commonweath of the Northern Mariana Islands).

[KIVPossum]

03:39 PM on 12/03/2009

220$ for a pair of jeans?

[tcastillo]

06:06 PM on 12/03/2009

Sweden is expensive. I lived there.

[emily00011]

01:05 PM on 12/04/2009

not expensive enough to justiy this though

[hama66]

06:34 PM on 12/03/2009

have you been to a lucky brad or 7 for all mankind? $220 is cheap. even the levi's store where i live has jeans over $200.

[usamade]

08:34 AM on 12/07/2009

And most pairs of Lucky are made in the USA :D

[ghudson68]

03:30 PM on 12/03/2009

Is it just me, or is the video a bit of a drag? Music to depressing for content?