PAUL DILLINGER

(03) VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL PRODUCT INNOVATION, LEVI STRAUSS & CO.

We’ve got a great-looking pair of Levi’s in our archive that are about 134 years old: a beautiful shade of indigo and a stunning authentic finish. The fit is wearable and relevant, and would look great on the streets of Tokyo, Paris – or even Paris, Texas. The relative environmental impact from making a jean in 1884 is nearly negligible when amortized over 134 years. We’ve made ‘sustainable jeans’.

We can refine and improve the technical industrial cycle – exploring advanced man-made cellulosic fibers made from post-consumer garment waste to replace virgin cotton. We can use newly re-formulated synthetic dye types that save water, eliminate effluent and reduce the carbon footprint of denim production. Alternatively, we can work to revive a more natural industrial cycle – eliminating synthetic material and chemical inputs through the use of organic cotton, hemp and indigo alternatives.

The best expression to this multidisciplinary ‘systems-based’ approach is our new Levi’s WELLTHREAD jeans made with Circulose from ReNewcell– a new recycling technology that turns old jeans into a new, high-quality viscose alternative.

Following strict standards for circular production, we sent samples of these new jeans made from old jeans back to ReNewcell and confirmed that they can be put back into their circular system for a potential 3rd generation of material value. This approach to holistic design for circular systems will be the ‘deciding innovation’ that ensures a sustainable future for our industry.