Leading fashion brands and manufacturers are to transform the way they produce jeans, tackling waste, pollution, and the use of harmful practices thanks to new guidelines published today by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
The Jeans Redesign Guidelines set out minimum requirements on garment durability, material health, recyclability and traceability. The guidelines are based on the principles of the circular economy and will work to ensure jeans last longer, can easily be recycled, and are made in a way that is better for the environment and the health of garment workers. The Jeans Redesign – created through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative – brought together more than 40 denim experts from academia, brands, retailers, manufacturers, collectors, sorters and NGOs to develop the guidelines.
Confirmed participants to date include GAP, H&M Group (through the H&M and Weekday brands), Lee Jeans, Mud Jeans, Outerknown, Tommy Hilfiger, The Reformation, and more. The guidelines have also been endorsed by clothing recyclers Circular Systems, HKRITA, Infinited Fiber Company, Recover, Tyton Biosciences LLC, Wolkat, and Worn Again. They have also been endorsed by campaign group Fashion Revolution.
The guidelines build on existing efforts to improve jeans production, including the open source guide created following C&A and Fashion For Good’s joint initiative to develop C2C Gold Certified™ jeans. The Jeans Redesign will drive others to join the project and produce jeans at scale in line with the guidelines. The first pairs of the redesigned jeans will be on sale in 2020.
Make Fashion Circular lead Francois Souchet said,
“The way we produce jeans is causing huge problems with waste and pollution, but it doesn’t have to be this way. By working together, we can create jeans that last longer, that can be remade into new jeans at the end of their use and are made in ways which are better for the environment and the people that make them. This is just the start. Over time we will continue to drive momentum towards a thriving fashion industry, based on the principles of a circular economy.”