ARMEDANGELS introduces Circular Denim

In Germany, every woman owns an average of 8.1 pairs of jeans, buys 2.2 new ones per year, and every year they are sorted out in parallel: The jeans no longer fit, the colour or shape no longer appeals or no longer adheres to the latest trends. According to the Ellen McArthur Foundation, it has been proven that only just under 1 % of the world's old clothes are reprocessed into new clothing. The vast majority is still sent to landfill. For ARMEDANGELS, one thing is certain: the life cycle of the product must be considered right from the design stage and it must be ensured that the product can remain in the cycle for as long as possible. This can be done via durability or repair measures. Recycling is part of the solution, but only the last step.

The new product innovation shows how this can work holistically: The "Circular Denim", made from cutting scraps from the company's own production. The only way towards a resource-saving future is to break the current one-way street. We need to stop treating our old clothes as waste and start seeing them as the valuable resource they are.

After the first milestone was set with the Circular T-shirt, ARMEDANGELS is now using 20% recycled organic cotton from its own offcuts and second-choice materials in the Circular Denim for the first time, thus achieving zero-waste production. In cooperation with existing and new partners, the Circular Denim is further pioneering work towards a truly circular business.

The collected waste material is mechanically recycled and mixed with fresh organic cotton to be re-spun into yarn by the Spanish partner Recovertex, which has many years of experience in textile fibre recycling. At Tejidos Rojo in Portugal, the yarn is then dyed using dry indigo technology. This requires no water, saves 89% of chemicals and reduces energy consumption by 65% compared to conventional indigo dyeing. Circularity is also a top priority in the design: Denim Authority in Tunisia sews and finishes the jeans at the end and only adds components that can be easily dismantled. For example, unscrewable buttons have been developed, rivets will be replaced by embroidery in the future and badges and labels will be printed directly on the fabric.

From eco & fair to completely circular

The development of innovative, circular clothing is not enough for ARMEDANGELS and so instead (e.g. through a Denim Repair Guide) active attention is paid to the longevity of the products. Only when the favourite pair of jeans has really reached the end of its life does it return to ARMEDANGELS via a denim take-back system to be subsequently integrated into a continuous cycle and recycled.

Circular Denim (compared to Detox Denim) in numbers:

Reduces CO2 emissions by a further 18.5% (that's 61% less than standard jeans)
Uses 13% less water thanks to the 'Dry Indigo' technique
Uses 40.3% less land for cultivation thanks to the use of recycled material

Read more about ARMEDANGELS on the brandpage: fashionunited.com/companies/armedangels