LONDON, DECEMBER 3, 2019 MORE denim brands, including Ateliers and Repairs and Guess, have joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign.

The Jeans Redesign was created by the British circular economy charity’s Make Fashion Circular initiative and launched in July. It includes guidelines that set 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.

In addition to announcing new participants, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has extended the guidelines to allow fabric mills to join the project. In addition to meeting the other relevant Jeans Redesign guidelines fabric mills must implement ZDHC (Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals) wastewater guidelines, including testing and reporting, and produce no more than 0.025 mÑ of wastewater per yard.

LATEST PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:

BRANDS – Ateliers and Repairs, BAM Bamboo Clothing, Blue of a kind, FAIRBLUE JEANS, Frank And Oak, Guess, Outland Denim

FABRIC MILLS – Advance denim mill, Artistic Miliners, Cone Denim, House of Gold (through Blue Diamond: Xingtai H&J Textiles Co. Ltd), Prosperity Textiles, Soorty

MANUFACTURERS – Artistic Miliners, DEMCO, Denim Expert, Denim Village, Frontline, Soorty Participants who joined earlier this year are: Arvind Limited, BESTSELLER (through the VERO MODA brand), Boyish Jeans, C&A, GAP, Hirdaramani, H&M Group (through the H&M and Weekday brands), HNST, Kipas, Lee®, Mud Jeans, OUTERKNOWN, Reformation, Saitex, Tommy Hilfiger. The Guidelines have also been endorsed by clothing collectors and recyclers Bank and Vogue, Circular Systems, EVRNU, HKRITA, I:CO, Infinited Fiber Company, Lenzing, Recover, re:newcell, Texaid, Tyton Biosciences LLC, Wolkat, and Worn Again.

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. They were developed with insights from more than 40 denim experts from academia, brands, retailers, manufacturers, collectors, sorters and NGOs. The first pairs of the redesigned jeans will be on sale in 2020. Make Fashion Circular lead Francois Souchet said: “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 industrywide 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.”

ABOUT THE GUIDELINES

The respect of the health, safety, and rights of people involved in all parts of the fashion industry is a prerequisite, along with working conditions improvement in manufacturing globally. Beyond this, the Guidelines provide minimum requirements for jeans on durability, material health, recyclability, and traceability.

DURABILITY

• Jeans should withstand a minimum of 30 home laundries, while still meeting the minimum quality requirements of the brands

• Garments should include labels with clear information on product care

MATERIAL HEALTH

• Jeans should be produced using cellulose fibres from regenerative, organic or transitional farming methods

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

FOR MILLS

• The mill has implemented the ZDHC wastewater guidelines, including testing and reporting in accordance with the latest version of that document as a minimum

• The wastewater volume created for denim fabric is a maximum of 0.025 m3/yard or below

RECYCLABILITY

• Jeans should be made with a minimum of 98% cellulose fibres (by weight)

• Metal rivets should be designed out, or reduced to a minimum

• Any additional material added to the jeans, should be easy to disassemble

TRACEABILITY

• Information that confirms each element of the Guideline requirements has been met should be made easily available

• Organisations that meet the requirements will be granted permission to use the Jeans Redesign Logo on jeans produced in line with the Guidelines

• Jeans Redesign Logo use will be reassessed annually, based on compliance with reporting requirements

Download the full guidelines via tiny.cc/jeansredesign

For further information and to arrange an interview with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation or participating organisations please contact Leah Lefco at leah@bpcm.com

NOTES TO EDITOR

ABOUT MAKE FASHION CIRCULAR

Make Fashion Circular was launched by UK charity the Ellen MacArthur Foundation at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2018. It brings together leaders from across the fashion industry, including designers, brands, cities, philanthropists, NGOs, and innovators. It is leading international efforts to stop waste and pollution in fashion by creating a circular economy for the industry, where clothes are made from safe and renewable materials, new business models increase their use, and used clothes are turned into new ones.

To make fashion circular, businesses, governments, innovators, and citizens need to join forces. Make Fashion Circular brings together industry leaders including Burberry, Gap Inc., H&M, HSBC, PVH and Stella McCartney as Core Partners. Make Fashion Circular is supported by Philanthropic Partners C&A Foundation, MAVA Foundation, and players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Further information: tiny.cc/makefashioncircular

ABOUT THE ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched in 2010 to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. The Foundation works across seven key areas: insight and analysis; business; institutions, governments, and cities; systemic initiatives; circular design; learning; and communications. With its Knowledge Partners (Arup, Dragon Rouge, IDEO and SYSTEMIQ), the Foundation works to quantify the economic opportunity of a more circular model and to develop approaches for capturing its value.

The Foundation collaborates with its Global Partners (BlackRock, Danone, DS Smith, Google, H&M Group, Intesa Sanpaolo, Philips, Renault, SC Johnson, Solvay, Unilever), Core Philanthropic Funders (SUN, MAVA, players of People’s Postcode Lottery (GB)) and its CE100 network (businesses, universities, emerging innovators, governments, cities, affiliate organisations), to build capacity, explore collaboration opportunities and to develop circular business initiatives.

ellenmacarthurfoundation.org | @ellenmacarthurfoundation

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Jeans Redesign: New Brands Sign Up To Enhanced Circular Economy Guidelines

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