The Ellen MacArthur Foundation Wants To Redesign The Denim Industry

In the sustainable fashion conversation, denim gets a pretty bad rap. It’s collectively considered one of the “worst offenders” as far as its environmental impact, mostly due to the water required to grow the cotton, the repeated wash cycles denim is often put through, the prevalence of Lycra and spandex in stretch jeans, and the hazardous chemicals required for trendy washes and finishes. Denim wasn’t always the bad guy, though: If you look back to its early days at the turn of the last century, denim was made to last. It was durable, 100 per cent cotton that only got that faded “lived-in” look once you’d actually lived in it. As denim evolved from hardy workwear to the foundation of our daily wardrobe, creating jeans got a lot more complex – and a lot less natural.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has introduced a set of guidelines that will help denim companies reduce their waste, eliminate pollution, and eventually implement “circular” manufacturing practices. “Jeans are one of the most iconic clothing items in the world,” says project manager Francois Souchet. “This was our chance to create a shared vision of what good [denim production] looks like, and to bring everyone together to achieve it.”

Billed as “The Jeans Redesign”, the plan was conceived by more than 40 denim experts from academia, brands, retailers, manufacturers, collectors, sorters, and non-governmental organisations. We’re highlighting a few of the most game-changing suggestions below. Some of them might surprise you.

1. Metal rivets should be removed entirely or reduced to a minimum

Did you know the rivets on your jeans don’t really serve a purpose? At least not anymore. Levi Strauss & Co first added rivets to denim work pants back in 1873 as a way to reinforce the pockets and corners, but today’s jeans are securely stitched; at this point, the rivets are just decorative. They’re also very difficult to remove, which is a problem if you’re trying to deconstruct a pair of jeans to repurpose or recycle the denim. Souchet and his team are calling on denim brands to stop using rivets, but he isn’t expecting an immediate response; most brands worry their customers would react poorly to the aesthetic change. “By [at least] limiting the number of rivets in a pair of jeans, you can increase the amount of fabric you can get back and use to make new clothes,” he offers.

2. Jeans should be free of hazardous chemicals and conventional electroplating. Stone finishing, potassium permanganate (PP), and sandblasting are prohibited

Even a true denim head likely doesn’t know what most of those terms mean. Electroplating, for instance, is the process of coating rivets, buttons, zippers, and other hardware with metal by means of an electric current. “The major environmental issues associated with that is the generation of hazardous wastes, which can contain heavy metals, and effluent disposal, as well as odour and noise,” Souchet explains.

For Potassium permanganate, an oxidising agent used to fade denim, the risk is marine pollution, while sandblasting can be dangerous to workers’ respiratory health. In the long run, those processes also reduce the durability and lifespan of denim. Longevity is the real crux of the foundation’s guidelines: The longer jeans can last, the lower their carbon footprint, and the more likely they are to be re-worn, repaired, or recycled.

3. Denim should include a minimum of 98 per cent cellulose-based fibres by weight in the total textile composition

One of the more complicated changes Souchet is advocating for is that denim manufacturers switch their materials to almost exclusively cellulose fibres, like cotton, hemp, Tencel, and lyocell. They should be sourced from organic or “regenerative” sources, too, where the land’s natural ecosystem is preserved. “To make sure jeans can be taken back [and reused] at the end of their use, the industry needs to ensure denim is made from at least 98 per cent plant-based fibres,” Souchet says. “Jeans that contain complex blends of natural and synthetic fibres of any kind cannot be effectively recycled.” He admits that “the availability of organic cotton is currently quite limited, but we’re also [suggesting the use of] cotton ‘in transition’ so companies can support the farmers who are moving [their practices] to organic and regenerative farming.”

It’s a lot to digest, but Souchet insists the guidelines were designed so that any brand can adopt them immediately. The foundation already has a long list of participants: Tommy Hilfiger, Reformation, H&M, Gap, Lee Jeans, Boyish Jeans, Outerknown, and many more. (The denim they produce under these guidelines will be accompanied by a special Jeans Redesign logo.) The big takeaway is that these brands will be able to share resources and work together towards goals, with the ultimate objective being a truly circular, closed-loop denim industry. “It starts by making sure jeans can be used longer, by setting minimum bars on durability,” Souchet says. “Once they cannot be used anymore, the jeans can be recycled, either mechanically or chemically, to make the next pair of jeans. The role of the logo is to ensure that, once the guidelines are applied at scale, sorters and recyclers can rapidly identify them to direct them towards the best end-of-use solution available.”

Souchet’s idea of a perfectly circular, regenerative denim industry is one where the “end-of-life” problem is a non-issue altogether. It could take a while to get there, but for now, brands can at least take a few steps in the right direction and use these clear, digestible “rules” as their guide.