Advanced Denim
Advanced Denim technology dyes fabric with less water and energy and emits fewer carbon emissions than conventional methods.
Why
Indigo doesn’t readily adhere to denim, which makes the dyeing, rinsing and garment-washing process resource-intensive. Most denim producers dye their fabric with synthetic indigo on huge production lines that consume vast amounts of water and energy.
We once used indigo to color our denim, too, but now we’ve incorporated Advanced Denim technology, a coloring process that uses sulfur dyes 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 energy and emit less CO₂ than conventional synthetic-indigo denim dyeing. The Advanced Denim dye process uses on average 80% less water and reduces CO₂ emissions by 25% compared to conventional denim sheet dyeing. (Resource savings are derived from a Life Cycle Assessment that compares our new Advanced Denim dyeing process with the conventional synthetic-indigo dyeing process.)
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.
