Feature Photo by Darrell Cassell on Unsplash
Last week, I talked about the impact that the denim industry has on the environment and people, as well as taking you through the journey and accomplishments the same industry has come to throughout the years.
As mentioned in Material Guide: Denim, it is essential for international denim brands to prioritise environmental and ethical concerns to remain relevant in the industry. Large corporations must set higher industry-wide standards for social and environmental sustainability.
Organizations like Ekō are demanding that brands like Levi’s, IKEA, and Amazon protect workers in Bangladesh and Pakistan by signing the Accord. Consumers worldwide can join the movement by signing the petition to help protect garment workers. In the meantime, there are alternatives to companies like Levi’s and Wrangler. You can also help by taking the following actions:
- E-mail brands to tell them to take action now.
- Check the Clean Clothes Campaign brand tracker to see whether your favourite brand has signed already. If not, go to their social media profiles and tell them to #ProtectProgress & #SignTheAccord.
Here are six denim brands making strides in social or environmental sustainability!
Related: MATERIAL GUIDE: DENIM
DENIM BRANDS DOING IT RIGHT
Boyish Jeans
Located in downtown Los Angeles, Boyish Jeans is a leading women’s denim brand renowned for its vintage-inspired silhouettes and washes. But that’s not all: this label is also highly sustainable. Boyish Jeans uses about one-third of the water typically required to produce one pair of jeans and has implemented a program to trace its supply chain through Retraced. The brand also employs GreenStory to measure the environmental impact of its products. In addition, it has taken an innovative approach to creating stretch fabrics, using plant-based materials instead of petroleum-based ones. As an LA-based brand, Boyish Jeans supports the Garment Worker Protection Act and advocates for garment maker rights. The brand is committed to circularity and recycling, cutting waste, paper, metal, labels, and shipping tags, it uses certified organic cotton, recycled and dead-stock fabrics and fibres like Tencel during the production process.
As a next step, Boyish Jeans aims to ensure that all workers earn at least a living wage, although they already earn above the minimum wage. The brand could provide more detailed information on how it benchmarks living wage rates in all of its production countries and the progress it has made towards achieving its living wage goals.
ÉTICA Denim
ÉTICA Denim, founded in Los Angeles in 2010, has been committed to creating sustainable denim products since its inception. The brand uses organic cotton and recycled materials in its production process and employs technology to reduce water usage by 90%, energy consumption by 63%, and chemical usage by 70% compared to industry standards. ÉTICA Denim’s factories and mills are audited by third-party watchdogs Sedex and Bluesign, and their supply chain and materials hold various third-party certifications to ensure maximum accountability.
ÉTICA Denim has made significant strides in social and environmental sustainability. However, the brand could further reduce the environmental impact of cotton farming by increasing the percentage of organic cotton used from 70% to 100%.
MUD Jeans
MUD Jeans is an up-and-coming brand that offers a diverse range of denim washes for both men and women, featuring all the classic cuts from past decades. MUD Jeans prides itself on its unique approach to manufacturing, which emphasises fair and circular production methods that minimise waste.
According to the brand’s website, MUD Jeans uses only 477 litres of water per jean produced, compared to the industry standard of 7,000 litres. This is made possible through water recycling and washing methods employed at their factories. As a circular denim brand, MUD Jeans ensures that its denim stays within the loop. By recycling old jeans from their customers, 40% of MUD Jeans are already made from recycled cotton, while the remaining 60% are made from certified organic cotton.
MUD Jeans’ commitment to circularity is evident at every step of the denim lifecycle, from circular designing to repairing, up-cycling, and even leasing jeans.
Customers have the option to lease jeans for just $10 per month. Additionally, the brand reduces its environmental impact through water recycling plants and the use of renewable energy.
MUD Jeans is placing a strong emphasis on ethical and sustainable practices throughout its supply chain. In addition to its current efforts, MUD Jeans are considering publishing regular reports on the progress of its wage analysis. By sharing this information with customers and stakeholders, the company can demonstrate its dedication to social responsibility and invite feedback from the public.
One Teaspoon
One Teaspoon, a Sydney-based clothing label, offers women’s clothing and children’s apparel in a wide range of styles. While the company doesn’t position itself as entirely sustainable, it is dedicated to minimizing its environmental impact. To achieve this, One Teaspoon employs recycled cotton, organic cotton, and Tencel, a semi-synthetic fibre used in textile production. The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is also supported by One Teaspoon, which aims to improve the livelihoods of farmers and trace cotton safely.
One Teaspoon’s sustainability efforts are currently focused on materials, with little emphasis on social initiatives involving the health and welfare of workers and the supply chain community. To ensure transparency and accountability, the company needs to disclose its supplier list and provide information on the labour conditions of its garment workers in the supply chains.
RE/DONE
RE/DONE has become a popular and celebrated pioneer in the realm of up-cycling. Their sustainable fashion approach includes reworking vintage Levi’s jeans into trendy, modern styles. By using high-quality, authentic denim from the 1950s to the 1990s, the brand has saved over 200,000 garments from landfills and created each pair of jeans as unique.
Alongside collaborations with different brands, RE/DONE also produces its own collections with a focus on using recycled or organic materials. The brand pledges to reduce water and CO2 waste and has implemented a zero-waste policy. All clothing is produced in the USA, and the company only collaborates with factories that provide quality working conditions and livable wages to all employees.
As a next step, RE/DONE should reinforce this commitment by disclosing its definition of “livable wages” and the actual wages paid to garment workers in countries where it produces. This transparency is crucial to ensuring workers are paid enough to meet their basic needs and have discretionary income.
Nudie Jeans
Nudie Jeans Co. is a Swedish company that prides itself on using Japanese selvedge denim, promoting both fashion and social consciousness. Unlike distressed, faux-dirty, and whiskered types of denim, their jeans are made from a heavyweight, dark, dry, and rigid-feeling fabric that is untreated and unwashed. The cotton used in their jeans is sourced from farms that do not use pesticides, making it less harmful to the environment and workers.
Selvedge denim is woven on a special loom that uses a single thread woven throughout the bolt of fabric. This leaves the selvedge end of the fabric on the side seam of the jeans, resulting in jeans that do not fray and that last a long time.
Nudie Jeans Co. has created a devoted subculture of jeans lovers, with websites like www.mynudies.com providing a forum for fans to gather and appreciate their denim. They have even published ‘The Nudie Jeans Bible’, a guidebook for all things related to the brand, including 10 commandments for proper denim care.
The most significant commandment is to wait at least six months to wash the jeans, as the indigo dyes will bleed through wear and wash. By waiting, the indigo is naturally worn away in the creases of the garment, resulting in a gorgeous contrast upon its first washing.
The brand has a wear and tear way of thinking and also offers free repairs for every pair of jeans purchased and a re-use programme that re-uses handed-in Nudie Jeans, which are repaired and sold again as second-hand. For Re-use drop #17, Nudie sought inspiration from the oldest, most beautiful repair techniques: quilting and patching.
Although the jeans range from £125 to £370 a pair, they are designed for comfort and longevity. Wearing them regularly for several months is necessary to achieve the full effect of the wash. Ultimately, Nudie Jeans Co. offers a premium product that is worth the investment for those who appreciate European charm and quality.
Nudie is truly committed to transparency and sustainability in its supply chain, providing customers with detailed information on the production processes, CO2 emissions, and water usage involved in the manufacturing of each item. While Nudie Jeans has achieved a 98% monitoring rate for its supply chain, the brand is now working to secure fair wages for all of its Tier 1 factory workers. The company has already implemented a fair wage programme at several suppliers and intends to expand this programme in the future.
Organsk®
ORGANSK® is a Danish eco-stylish, organic and vegan denim brand accredited by the official Nordic Swan Ecolabel. It is also PETA-Approved Vegan and GOTS certified combining a 360° innovation approach and full transparency to give conscious consumers timeless and everlasting fashion.
ORGANSK® represents a lifestyle that champions sustainability as the new standard, embracing a greener way of living.
This innovative brand is more than just a manufacturer of organic products; it’s a creator of symbols. These symbols embody ethical practices seamlessly integrated into timeless, minimalist designs, distinguished by their deliberate approach:
- They don’t chase fleeting trends.
- They don’t exploit precious resources.
- They don’t engage in mass production.
ORGANSK® was born from a profound desire to address the rampant issue of overconsumption in the fashion industry, the lack of transparency within the textile sector, and the inappropriate use of chemicals in clothing production. They recognize the profound impact every creation has on the planet, and their unwavering commitment revolves around reducing their environmental footprint at every stage of the product life cycle.
Nordic Swan Ecolabel
Nordic Swan Ecolabel is the official ecolabel of the Nordic countries. It is one of the world’s toughest and most recognized environmental certifications. Being approved for the Nordic Ecolabel is a long process that requires a great amount of documentation.
Products certified with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel contribute to a reduced climate impact, transparent supply chain and are safe for us and better for the planet.
What is unique with this brand is that they offer a subscription on their jeans, where members can swap to new jeans every 6 months, and re-design their old pair into something else, in other words; once the old jeans reach the end-cycle (not suitable for re-use or re-pair), they send a part back to their factory in Turkey for upcycling into accessories, belts and when suitable – limited edition recycled jeans.
Mission: Their mission is a revolutionary one — to transform the way people consume clothing. This entails creating the finest products while inflicting no needless harm, harnessing innovative technologies to inspire and implement solutions for the environmental crisis, and facilitating ethical consumerism with utmost convenience.
Values and Vision: Their values, steeped in transparency and responsible production, serve as the bedrock of a vision that positions ORGANSK® as a leading brand within the fashion industry. Their goal is to provide customers with unwavering trust and concrete evidence of their commitment.
Creating Common Values and Mutual Benefits: For ORGANSK® actions speak louder than words. Their continuous efforts are aimed at providing customers with the highest standards of assurance and reliability. Their ultimate goal is to create shared values and mutual benefits for everyone involved.
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