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Designing Redlight Jeans at the Denim house - Pic Courtesy Denim House
The ‘Red Light Selvedge’ initiative, run by the House of Denim, Amsterdam, is a ground breaking project; something the garment industry may do well to keep their eyes on. Not so much from the point of view that it will induce the people of Amsterdam to actually produce mass quantities of clothing at a low cost; but more from the perspective of an idea germinating in the backstreets of this old city becoming a catalyst; which may gain enough strength to change the course of how we look at apparel production in the future.
The Red Light Selvedge idea is to take discarded denim clothing and extract fibres from them to recreate new denim fabric. This process in itself may not seem like a new one or a threat to our local industry; but the reason behind this action is what might be considered a warning!
The idea behind this process, which they call ‘up cycling’ will produce new fabric and in the process reduce the quantities of water that goes into the production of a pair of denim jeans. Today, the number of litres of water per pair of jeans (produced in the traditional way) sitting in one’s wardrobe is a staggering 7,000 – a figure known within apparel industry circles even though it may not be public knowledge.
For a country like Sri Lanka, which is not sensitised towards water conservation and restoration, these numbers may mean very little. But to a country like the Netherlands, which takes its water very seriously, and is conscious of environment conservation; this is a very serious matter.
For the people of Netherlands Jeans are a very important part of the wardrobe
The House of Denim has already produced the first lot from their up cycling process under a new brand name. The new product lays claim to using 600 litres less water than what is currently consumed by the average pair of jeans. This may not seem much when compared with the 7000 figure; but what should be a focus point to the local industry at large is that the experiment is continuing.
The next step in their experimentation process is to add hemp fibre, which is a much more sustainable material than cotton; in order to further reduce the water usage. Experts from the House of Denim in Amsterdam, says that after this, they would take the trial a step further by adding Polyethylene Terephthalate (commonly known as PET), the substance used to make most plastic bottles.
The Foundation is also looking at the possibility of working with another project in the Netherlands, that is involved in collecting throw away PET plastic bottles. They would then be able to covert the bottles into plastic pellets, which will be used in the future Red Light Selvedge Denim.
The idea is that when the denim gets to about 50% of virgin cotton content the water content will halve and help it to become a more sustainable garment. The interesting factor in the marketing process of this new material is that it is not called ‘green’ denim – even though going green has been marketed as a positive sustainability factor from a carbon footprint point of view. Their brand story is positioned in the tag line ‘Towards a Brighter Blue’.
Not discounting the importance of reducing the carbon footprint, which plays a key role in the sustainability process; this writer believes that in the Netherlands sustainability and social responsibility have gone beyond looking at the planet from the narrower perspective. They are taking a broader, more holistic point of view; and are basing their ideas on the book ‘Cradle to Cradle’authored by Michael Braungart and William McDonough.
As the author describes it, Cradle to Cradle is actually the law of return in the aspect of materials, a concept The Netherlands has embraced with great enthusiasm. On a recent international media tour to Holland (which this writer was a part of), organised by that country’s foreign ministry, it was clearly outlined how wastewater was being used as a resource to extract energy and raw materials, while cleaning it up for reuse.
These projects which are now dotted across all of Holland is backed by their government and endorsed by the citizens, even in the form of paying taxes; showing how serious they are about looking at the ‘Cradle to Cradle’concept for the sustainability of the planet.
What does this mean to our garment industry – not just those who may be involved in making denims but the industry as a whole? How would they deal with a western customer who will now go beyond the look, touch and feel of a garment? Yes, we don’t run sweatshops anymore and from a human rights point of view Sri Lanka is producing ethical garments; but the focus is shifting to the planet in a more serious manner and not on a superficial platform in which one could merely buy carbon credits and become green.
The European consumer in the near future will need an audited story; on the products we sell them. The question now is how innovative can we get to meet the challenges? In the case of the House of Denim formula, they give a clear signal that they don’t want to leave the innovation part to us.
Cradle-to-Cradle is what is now called a ‘circular economy’, a subject on which much has been written about and discussed at length. Circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose). It is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which material flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere.
The question is what is being done about achieving this ideal goal? In the Netherlands, quite a lot; there are vast projects combining researchers, technocrats and bureaucrats all involved in finding solutions with the support of their government and big businesses.
When it comes to the denim factor, the biggest challenge for us would be (if we are to be in this upcycling process), how to get the used denims back, in a cost effective way – and if that is possible. For House of Denim, this matter is already being thought of and they are in the process of negotiating with Turkey their European neighbour to the east, to produce the up cycle fabric, which from a costing point of view would be far cheaper than getting an Asian country to produce it. Once the fabric part is sorted out they will then move their project from an experiment stage, into mass production.
The motto of the House of Denim foundation’Towards a Brighter Blue,’ encapsulates their objective, and the achieving of it through the development of education, innovation and enterprise; as well as networking projects to strive to make the world of jeans dryer, cleaner and smarter. Their intention is to connect and inspire denim professionals in all the key regions of the global industry. The Foundation urges these professionals to join them as they say that this fabric has now to be reinvented.
At the recently held special meet with international journalists, the House of Denim said that the denim industry in Amsterdam alone (which is considered more of a denim city) is worth around 5 billion US dollars. It is certainly an impactful figure considering that the Sri Lankan garment industry’s annual turnover stands at around 5 billion US dollars.
