Christine’s passion for denim started at a very young age; she designed her first jean for a Levi’s-sponsored design contest when she was just 10. And all throughout her teenage years, Christine frequented her local Army-Navy surplus store to buy denim, workwear pants, and military pieces, which she would then spend hours bleaching, distressing, and embellishing with patches and hand-embroidery.
Christine Rucci began her professional career working in Italy for Adriano Goldschmied and the Genius Group, a multi brand design collective consisting most notably of Diesel, Replay and Goldie Jeans. She worked closest with Renzo Rosso, owner of Diesel who became one of her mentors. During her time with the Genius Group, Christine was influenced and inspired by multiple designers, the most memorable being Katherine Hamnet and Stevie & David from Body Map.
After her time in Italy, Christine took a job working with Marithe & Francois Girbaud who taught her about garment processing and washing and later worked directly for Diesel in New York as the VP of Design and Merchandising. She also did denim design consulting for Armani & Moschino Jeans.
Christine was lead designer for the biggest American brands working directly with Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ralph Lauren. At Tommy Hilfiger she launched Tommy Jeans. At Ralph Lauren she oversaw corporate denim development for all divisions, as well as the Senior Design Director for Double RL.
In 2004, Christine started her own design consulting company as well as her own men’s denim brand called 5EP. She worked in Japan and collaborated with Sakamoto, the oldest indigo dyer, with whom she developed custom fabrics and hand-cut individually sewn selvedge jeans and has been credited for creating the first stretch selvedge denim. For the past 20 years Christine has been consulting for such brands as Marc Jacobs, Draper James, Mott & Bow, Ralph Lauren, and most recently Belstaff UK and Cordura Denim.
Christine is a member of AATC and Made in NYC, and mentors design students about careers in denim. Christine has been a leader in supporting local denim production in NYC’s Garment District and American South East. She is often quoted and featured in such trade publications as Rivet, Sourcing Journal, Sportswear International, Carved in Blue, Forbes Magazine, and WWD. Additionally, Christine has appeared in the documentary film Blue Gold: American Jeans.
