Western Storyteller + Creative Director / @_benchristensen
Ben Christensen
Riding in Denim
Madewell is one of Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ program’s most committed retail participants, and Ben’s go-to for denim that keeps up with life on the open road.
When his jeans have given everything they’ve got, he recycles them in-store and starts the cycle again.
Recycle with MadewellMy projects are rooted in nature and a sense of Americana Western style.
Ben Christensen didn’t plan this life. He simply followed his personal compass. Harley rides across the open desert, camping in the Arizona high country with his dad, a camera pointed at the people and places he loves. The work simply has a way of finding him. From shooting viral videos to directing commercial campaigns to producing and starring in his own Western film with industry legends, he’s crafted a creative life that revolves around what he loves.
“Once I started showing who I am as a person and the things that I’m into—Western lifestyle, my love for Harleys, and a touch of fashion—that’s when it got even more fun.” For Ben, it was never really about the end product anyway. “It’s more about the process and how I enjoy sharing what I love doing. Photography’s just the outcome.”
His style follows the same path. Rooted in the past and made to last. He favors cotton and other natural materials with a sense of heritage. “I like clothes that are inspired by the past, yet fresh and timeless.” His favorite is heavy, raw denim, made from cotton, the kind that breaks in over years and tells its own stories of miles on a Harley or of days herding cattle. A modern cowboy, Ben knows what works, and he makes it his own. “All my denim, it represents me, my hobbies, my work, and the things that I do.”
Denim is not only a great material, it’s ready to work, to do anything you want.
Ben sees sustainability as a matter of simplicity. “I’m not looking for 20 different outfits. I want to be ready to jump on a horse or a Harley and ride.” He characterizes his denim as durable and reliable, chosen for what it can do and worn until it’s done it all.
He has a deep respect for the Arizona landscape that stems from his childhood, where he spent his days and nights backcountry camping, rock climbing, and exploring with his family in the desert. His reverence for the land plays a prominent role in his craft. “The environment’s everything. It sets the scene. It tells a story. There’s nothing I love more than making the viewer feel that through my work.” He shoots these places because he loves them, and because he knows that loving something means taking care of it.
Ben sees Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ denim recycling program as a natural choice. It’s a way to let worn denim live another day rather than disappear into a landfill. “When denim can be broken down and rebuilt into something new, it’s a beautiful thing.” Madewell has long been one of the program’s most committed participating retailers, making it easy to close the loop: first, make sure it’s at least 90% cotton, then recycle worn denim in-store and then maybe walk out with something new. For Ben, that’s exactly how it should work. A life lived hard in good denim deserves a proper send-off and a worthy replacement. He’s working with Madewell because they get that. Good denim, like a good life, comes when you do what you love.
