SMART THINKING

Brands are looking for ways to produce denim sustainably.

How brands are working to produce denim sustainably, so blue jeans go green.

Denim can’t be beat for its durability, versatility and comfort. The fabric was first made in the French town of Nîmes over 300 years ago, and the production of conventional denim remains fairly unchanged to this day, except that the cotton is now coloured with a synthetic dye. In recent years the environmental impacts of denim have been studied, and research from India’s Bharathiar University has found that 5,678 litres of water are needed to grow the 680 grams of cotton required to produce one pair of jeans. Additionally, pollutants are released during different processing stages of denim – especially in dyeing, finishing, washing and rinsing.

To help minimise this footprint, brands such as Outland Denim, Nudie Jeans and Neuw Denim are looking for more sustainable ways to make denim. Neuw’s sustainable Zero collection uses new production methods to eliminate water wastage, chemical distressing and washing waste. Neuw Denim’s founder and creative director, Par Lundqvist, says, “Zero completely replaces traditional denim manufacturing processes, reinventing them with the sole objective to decrease the overall environmental impact. With Zero, we decided to completely overhaul the washing process … the water used in our manufacturing process is reused, renewed and recycled, with zero waste being discharged back into the grid as contaminated sewage.

“Zero eliminates classic stonewashing methods by adopting the use of synthetic stones. Made from an environmental resin, this innovative alternative leaves no washing waste or sludge behind … allowing us to clean and recycle water in a more energy efficient manner.”