New brands, manufacturers and fabric mills join Jeans Redesign initiative

A number of new brands, manufacturers and fabric mills have joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign initiative, and in doing so have pledged to meet guidelines setting out minimum requirements on garment durability, material health, recyclability and traceability.

The latest brands to join the project, which was launched in July by Make Fashion Circular, an initiative from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, are Ateliers and Repairs, Bam Bamboo Clothing, Blue of a kind, Fairblue Jeans, Frank and Oak, and Guess.

New manufacturers joining the project are Artistic Milliners, Denim Expert, Denim Village, Frontline, and Soorty

The guidelines have also been extended in this batch of new participants to allow fabric mills to join the initiative. They include Advance denim mill, Artistic Milliners, Cone Denim, Demko, House of Gold (through Blue Diamond: Xingtai H&J Textiles Co. Ltd), and Soorty. As well as meeting the original guidelines, they will also have to implement ZDHC (Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals) wastewater guidelines, including testing and reporting, and they must not produce more than 0.025m3 of wastewater per yard.

Francois Souchet, Make Fashion Circular lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said in a statement: “More companies joining the Jeans Redesign demonstrates the appetite in the industry for practical solutions that support the transition to a thriving fashion industry, where all our clothes are used for longer, are made from safe and renewable materials, and are made to be made again. This kind of industry-wide shift needs companies from across fashion to work together. Fabric mills are vital to this transformation and we are excited to bring them on board as part of the Jeans Redesign.”

The first pairs of the redesigned jeans will be on sale in Autumn 2020.

Photo courtesy of Ellen MacArthur Foundation - Make Fashion Circular