MAURIZIO DONADI

(02) FOUNDER, ATELIER & REPAIRS

While innovation is about technical experimentation and may take time, the first innovative step to make denim a more sustainable garment is to produce less of it. In fact, the vast majority of issues with denim lie in design flaws and the extraordinary overproduction of jeans, compromising the health of people and the environment.

Here I suggest a few steps toward a more sustainable and responsible approach to denim:

1. Design for circularity and commit to producing long-lasting goods.

2. Reduce production.

3. ‘Re-imagine’ / re-design so as to reduce the extraordinarily high obsolete global inventory of finished product and textile.

4. Invest in textile technology and testing in order to create the friendliest products for people and the environment.

5. Publicly and transparently share the way your brand works.

In the end, it comes down to a simple concept: be content with your company being smaller in size, higher in quality, equally profitable for investors and workers and, most importantly, honest.