Advanced Denim
Indigo dyeing denim fabric creates beautiful results, yet is a water- and energy-intensive practice.
Why
Most denim producers dye their fabric with synthetic indigo on huge production lines that use a lot of water and energy. Indigo doesn’t adhere readily to denim, which makes the dyeing, rinsing and garment-washing process resource intensive. We once used indigo to color our denim, but now we employ an innovative dye process that colors it with sulfur dyestuffs that bond more easily to denim fabric.
Where We Are
Using Advanced Denim technology results in much shorter production lines that consume less water and less energy and emit less CO2 than conventional synthetic indigo denim dyeing.* Advanced Denim uses 84% less water, 30% less total energy, 50% less electricity and produces 25% less CO2 emissions and 33% less steam .
*Resource savings are derived by comparing our new denim-dyeing process with that of conventional synthetic indigo denim.
What’s Next
Our goal is to relaunch denim in Fall 2021; we may continue to use the same technology or use new technology that has lower environmental impact than conventional denim-dyeing process.
Advanced Denim technology has been used by several small brands in Europe, but ultimately it is not widely adopted. Lack of widespread adoption is likely caused by added cost and low customer demand. In bringing this technology to market, we hope to inspire other brands to consider how this technology could fit into their line. Fortunately, there are dozens of denim mills in a variety of regions that have the capability of running Advanced Denim technology, so increased adoption is promising.
