Is Denim Sustainable? Different Sustainable Denim Fabrics

Denim is cotton, and cotton can indeed be environmentally friendly. However, producing denim from cotton can use plenty of water, energy, and chemicals. And when that is the case, it stops being an ethical fabric and harms the environment.

Water and energy are used to grow and produce cotton, but if a manufacturer uses sustainable processes, it will use less water and energy. The chemicals involved in the manufacturing process are used to dye and finish the fabric, and these are often toxic, which makes them impact the environment negatively, too.

The Impact Denim has on the Environment

Denim isn’t sustainable by default. Here is a guideline on the denim environmental impact, and how you can ensure you use sustainably made denim jeans and other products for your products. Let’s take each impact separately…

Water

One of the brands with a notable history of epitomising denim blue jeans is Levi Strauss, and this, of all jeans brands, has also had to relook how they manufacture the material because they were using 3,780 litres of water to make just one pair of blue jeans. As a result, they are now using various sustainability initiatives to ensure they lessen the impact of denim’s production on the planet.

The water used to grow cotton and to process jeans has since reduced substantially. The secret, many jeans brands have found, is to use organic cotton, which requires less water to grow as rainwater is used instead of an irrigation system; this has less impact on the environment.

Energy

Weaving, spinning, and finishing denim material uses a lot of energy from fossil fuels; this is a major contributor to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. More manufacturers are doing their best to use less energy in the production of denim fabric to build a more ethical future for the planet instead of having a negative impact.

Chemicals

Pesticides and fertilisers are often used when growing cotton – these elements are toxic. Other harmful chemicals are used to colour the material and finish it. Synthetic indigo is one of these chemicals used to colour jeans and other products and give the fabric a special finish for a specific texture; this requires chemicals like formaldehyde, which is unhealthy for factory workers. Toxic chemicals can also pollute soil and water systems, which results in further health risks.

When it comes to dyeing fabric, chemicals like Azo dyes contain carcinogens, which is a major risk to the safety of workers. Using indigo to colour the material isn’t much better. According to John Dueber, a professor of bioengineering who co-led research and recently published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, “Dying for denim jeans is unfortunately a pretty dirty process.” He explains that most denim fabric is dyed using synthetically produced blue dye, either light or dark. Manufacturers use various toxic chemicals to make this dye, including formaldehyde, which we mentioned above.

Waste Ending in Landfill

One of the guides we previously created is an informative one on The Effect of Fabric Waste which explains how fast fashion is causing so much fashion waste to end up in landfills or is incinerated, creating greenhouse gas emissions.

 In it, we mention 3 mind-bending facts:

1. “It takes over 200 years for these fabrics to decompose in landfill. And while these textiles decompose in landfills, the textile waste generates methane gas.
2. Because of textile waste toxic chemicals and dyes are landing in our soil.
3. Of 92 million tonnes of textile waste created world-wide each year, the UK wastes 336,000 tonnes.”

When we look at these numbers to consider denim waste statistics, we’re not even considering the vast amount of water contaminated with chemicals being released into the environment.

How is Denim Fabric Made?

Commonly, denim is produced from twill cotton woven fabric. These cotton fibres are spun into yarn, and then dyed to make them the signature blue shade we know so well. Unfortunately, there is not enough organic cotton available to use all the time, which would make it far more sustainable.

Cotton material like denim is then woven to create the required texture for jeans. As stretch denim fabric is popular in jeans culture, the material is produced with some amount of elastane and spandex, a stretchy polyester fibre. When manufacturers use these other materials, this jeans material isn’t as sustainable.

Some manufacturers use more sustainable stretch fabrics, like TENCEL, Modal and Lyocell are cellulose-based, man-made materials. Others use rPET (Recycled Polyester, made from recycled plastic bottles) and Recycled Elastane.

What is Sustainable Denim?

• To be sustainable, cotton needs to be GOTS-certified! GOTS (The Global Organic Textile Standard), guarantees the textile is sustainable world-wide. This certification covers manufacturing the cotton, harvesting it, and producing the textile. Read more about GOTS & other Textile Certifications right here.
• Textile dyeing is also important in deciding whether it is sustainable denim. We’ve discussed how toxic chemicals like formaldehyde are used to colour denim jeans that famous hue, which pollutes waterways, and how this affects marine life and humans.

Is all Denim Sustainable?

• Unless the material is 100% cotton, preferably 100% organic, the material is unlikely to be completely sustainable denim. So, how to make denim sustainable? Often, manufacturers combine cotton with a polyester blend to produce denim jeans material: this is not eco-friendly. You can read all about Organic Cotton & why we Should use This Cotton Type
• If a polyester blend is not used, cotton is often combined with elastane to make the fit more comfortable. This is another unsustainable blend.
• The methods used to create a particular texture of denim material for jeans and other products can also affect its sustainability. Treating the textile with acid wash or sand-blasting for a ‘worn’ look is not eco-friendly. Harmful chemicals like chlorine are unhealthy to factory workers, making the textile unsustainable. Factories are now using more innovative, green methods to treat material including waterless dyeing, foam dyeing, and lasers for texture.

Manufacturing Jeans Sustainably

Manufacturers are doing their utmost to produce material more sustainably, including denim jeans. This is how they’re doing it:

• They choose organic cotton instead of regular; it takes less water, energy, and chemicals.
• Various techniques are being applied that use less water and fewer chemicals, including laser technology which reduces water usage by up to 90%.
• Renewable energy resources like solar and wind power are being used to manufacture denim material for jeans and other products.
• Avoid using harmful pesticides and fertilisers.
• Choose natural, less harmful dyes instead of synthetic ones.
• They use eco-friendly raw materials, not harmful chemicals for special finishes like distressed and faded fabric.
• Ensuring workers work in a green environment and receive fair wages and benefits.

The Challenges of Recycling This Cotton Fabric

Sadly, denim jeans fabric isn’t easy to recycle. Look at Google or check out why right here:

1. Even if the textile is 100% organic and biodegradable, its fibres may have been blended with synthetic ones, like elastane, or the textile could be dyed with a substance that contains toxic chemicals to make a specific jeans colour.
2. Sadly, the process used for recycled cotton can involve mixing the material with harmful synthetic fibres.

maake Focuses on Sustainability for Printing 

As our focus is on sustainability at maake, the material we use for printing is exceptional. It is 100% GOTS-certified cotton with a tight diagonal twill weave that is prominent on the print face. This adds an appeal to your final printed material.

Denim is a solid, sturdy textile, perfect for clothing especially jeans, accessories, bags, upholstery and crafts. This material has no stretch. It is extremely hard-wearing, and a heavyweight material – the heaviest in our cotton range. Its white print face prints bright colours.

At maake we print on our cotton fabrics in one of the most eco-friendly ways possible, using sustainable Digital Pigment inks. We use no water in the printing process and around 95% less energy than traditional screen printing. Fabrics are printed in our North London factory, a zero-to-landfill facility.

If you’d like more information, read about our maakeLess Textile Waste project or contact us.

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