Eli McGregor: JEANius at Work

A look inside the mind behind Verdarm Studios

By Cece Jones

If my expansive field research on what kids these days are saying (source: eavesdropping on my fourteen-year-old brother’s sleepovers), “glazing” is not cool. Glazing, the act of praising someone to the extreme, crosses the line between complimenting and just plain sucking up.  

Now, this poses an issue for a girl like me. I’m surrounded by some of the most beautiful, talented and creative people I’ve ever met. How do I walk the line? And ( imagine this next question sprawling across my computer screen, Sex-and-the-City style), is glazing ever justified? 

Enter Eli McGregor—my dear friend, designer, owner of Verdarm Studios and prompter of my recent glazing-related ponderings. 

Though Eli has only been seriously designing for less than a year, creativity has always been a given for him. At only twelve years old, after seeing a leather backpack that was out of his middle school budget, he decided to teach himself to design, pattern and sew leather backpacks of his own. 

After that, it was screen printing tee shirts and designing an entire suspension system for a mountain bike. So, when it came time to reckon with the dilemma of being tall and stylish, and therefore incapable of finding pants that go past the middle of his shins, it’s no surprise that Eli decided to take matters into his own hands.  

Fashion design as a serious profession “was bound to happen at some point,” he said. “I’m glad I realize it now.” 

Verdam Studios, according to Eli, “really started with me having issues with finding clothes that I liked and that fit me, and so I was like, ‘I’m just going to make my own now.’” 

As his audience grew, he realized he could pursue his passion further, which meant finding suppliers and manufacturers that could handle the larger quantities of jeans he was selling without sacrificing quality, both of which he found in Los Angeles. Once that was squared away, the magic started to happen. 

Beyond the manufacturing, Eli handles everything for the brand, and making said magic happen is no small feat.  Not only is he designing the clothes, but making the patterns, selecting and purchasing materials, communicating with suppliers and manufacturers, running the website, managing social media and marketing and setting up entire photoshoots (which include set design, lighting and camera setup, photography, styling and modeling). 

The workload “comes and goes in waves,” he said. “There’s some weeks where I have only emails to answer and there’s some weeks where literally every hour of every day is packed.”  

Luckily, his work has paid off. His most recent drop, a pair of jeans called the Outlaw Denim, has completely sold out, and people adore them (I was lucky enough to snag a pair, and I can confirm that I wear them at least three or four times a week). 

There’s so much uncertainty over whether a drop will be well-received, so the positive reactions have been not only overwhelming but a weight off his shoulders. 

“I think that's always the scariest part. Like, people love this concept, people love the idea, people love the images of the idea that I’ve put out, but are people gonna actually like the thing? And it’s very rewarding to get just, amazing reviews from people of all walks of life. Whether it’s the first thing they’ve bought in this sort of a sphere, or they buy designer all the time and they're still stoked,” he said.  

So, what’s next for Verdam Studios, and for Eli McGregor as a designer? The short answer: “We haven’t gotten there yet.” However, the future looks bright. He’s been gaining a following on social media, appearing on Eli Delafuente’s Turnkey Podcast  (episode out this week!) and planning for future drops, which he says at this point is most of his job. I, for one, am incredibly excited to see where Eli ends up going. Not only can he design a mean pair of jeans, but he’s dedicated, passionate and always excited about his work in a way that gets me excited right along with him. He’s the case of justified glazing—a genuine inspiration, not just as a creative force but as a person.