Last Sunday I went on a ‘Instawalk’ in my old neighborhood Amsterdam Oud West (Old West). I know this neighborhood very well as I’ve lived there for 4 years. But I can imagine most people only stay in their own neighborhood and most tourists only go to the city center. And that’s a shame as Old West has a lot to offer! On this Instawalk we saw a bit of the neighborhood and I’d love to share with you what we’ve seen and done, so you can also go for a walk and discover Oud West!
Denim City
We started at Denim City. A foundation located in De Hallen. Amsterdam is often referred to as Denim Capital of the World, so it’s the perfect city to house a denim hub. Denim City is started by James Veenhoff, the organizer of the Amsterdam Fashion Week. He got a prize from the mayor of Amsterdam to start Denim City. He wanted to change the industry and make denim in a sustainable way with much less water and no chemicals.
Their first sponsor was Tommy Hilfiger himself, and by now many jeans brands have joined like Levi’s and Gstar.
At House of Denim they use old jeans or plastic bottles collected from the ocean to make new jeans. Instead of 8000 liters of water they only used 1200 liters of water. It’s still a lot of course but it’s a great start!
They even have the only jeans school in the world!
Lab 111
Our second stop was Lab111. I’ve lived so close to this building for years but I never knew what was housed there. The building used to be a pathology/anatomy research center. 30 years ago it became vacant and 3 years ago it got its new function. It’s now a cinema and a restaurant called Strangelove. At Strangelove you can have brunch or dinner before or after the movie, but you can of course also go there if you’re not seeing a movie. They have a 3 course menu for 34 euros and also have a vegetarian option for each course.
The Tire station
The Tire Station on the Overtoom is the 3rd hotel of Conscious Hotels. Conscious Hotels strives to be an eco-friendly hotel group. But forget you’re prejudices, The Tire Station is super hip! Look at their cool hotel room to prove that green isn’t dull! The Tire Station has solar panels on the roof and the desks in the rooms are made of recycled yogurt pots! The Tire Station is located really close to the Vondelpark, so it’s a perfect hotel if you prefer to be close to this beautiful park. Located in the Tire Station is organic restaurant Moer.
Sticky Fingers
Sticky Fingers is an eco patisserie located inside the Tire Station hotel. All the pastries and cakes at Sticky Fingers are homemade and organic. If you’re in a hurry you can get everything to-go, but if you have some extra time I recommend you book a Slow Tea where you get unlimited tea refills and lots of sweets like muffins and cookies.
Click here for all my Amsterdam food favorites!
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