Denim—a notorious water guzzler and polluter—has been pressured more than other textiles to innovate new fibers, non-toxic pigments, gentler laundry processes, waterless finishes, fresh recycling methods, circularity advances and new ideas to close the loop. The material is also challenged to appeal to tomorrow’s eco-minded customer while never losing sight of its classic aesthetic, which has been going strong for more than 150 years.
The answer lies in international collaboration, from students to startups to legacy companies willing to dig deep for solutions. Sourcing Journal x Rivet’s webinar “Blue Goes Green: Designing Denim’s Eco-Future is an example of how four companies from around the globe used collaboration to bring big ideas, resources and investments to the forefront.
Panelists included Dr. Sedef Uncu Aki, director of Turkish denim mill Orta; Jenny Fredricsdotter, circular business manager of Swedish textile recycling company Renewcell; Daniel Grushkin, founder of global education program Biodesign Challenge and editor in chief of Biodesigned; and Jane Palmer, founder and CEO of Las Vegas.-based biochemical startup Nature Coatings.
“This year is Orta’s 70th year but it’s also the centennial year of our Turkish Republic, which has been an intersection of various trade routes like the Silk Road, with people exchanging goods and ideas, art and culture from Day One,” said Uncu Aki. “So we’re learning from our past but also envisioning the future.”
Drawing inspiration from the Biodesign Challenge, Orta developed a new fabric made by using viscose fiber made from Circulose by Renewcell, and colored by the non-toxic pigment BioBlack TX from Nature Coatings. Orta and the Biodesign Challenge (BDC) created a prize track called BioInspired Textile Processes, and the winners from Australia’s RMIT University created the system to break down the microplastics that form in the laundry—using an enzyme from bacteria that was first discovered in a Japanese plastic bottle recycling plant. The two-day event showed at Parsons School of Design and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
“It’s this kind of collaboration you wouldn’t expect where we’re going to find the next solutions,” said Grushkin, adding that teams are often formed from far-flung countries around the globe.
Such unexpected meetings of the minds also drives traction and ultimately more investment. BDC started eight years ago in nine universities and is now in 20 countries around the world. As fashion students don’t usually have a biotech education, BDC brings students together with scientists, engineers and other experts, and even when ideas don’t go beyond the conceptual, they still spark innovation and drive the industry forward.
Nature Coatings’ contribution to denim’s eco-future centered around a new, non-toxic pigment made from wood waste that created a “better black” than the industry’s traditional petroleum-based “carbon black.” Called BioBlack TX, the product drew interest—and investment—from environmentalist actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Having just completed its U.S. factory, Nature Coatings sought to replace the industry’s century-old carbon black method, which emits “around 3.26 kilos of CO2 for every kilo made.” The company’s new BioBlack TX black pigment is made only with FSC-certified wood waste from sustainable sources, grabbing it before it goes into landfill or gets burned (which creates carcinogens).
“It’s waste recovery,” said Palmer, a 20-year pigment and dye veteran, adding the U.S. alone produces more than 50 million tons of wood waste every year. “And we’re able to transform that into a dry pigment. We also have a pigment dispersion, which is what Orta has been using, called BioBlack TX. Both are carbon negative, based on third party LCA that we just got peer reviewed, and the black doesn’t fade or change color, which really contributes to the lifespan.”
Additionally, Nature Coatings launched BioBlack TX with “price parity” so as not to price out future partners, and hopefully “not just get stuck in capsule collections.”
Scaling up
Scaling big ideas into big realities has always been an issue in the fashion industry, but this is changing as innovations grow feedstock for recycled fibers.
In a 2020 project with Levi’s, Orta was the first denim mill to commercially produce a denim capsule made with Circulose fibers (Renewcell’s branded pulp made from 100 percent high cellulose content textile waste). Renewcell’s production was limited at the time, but it has since scaled up to offer higher percentage concentrations.
Renewcell’s Circulose Supplier Network also expanded from 50 members to 120 in just half a year, helping the company scale up. “Currently, we are selling with our fiber-producing partners fibers made with 30 percent recycled content, and also now 50 percent recycled content from textile waste inside of the fiber,” said Fredricsdotter. “Can we get to 100 percent recycled fiber? That’s for the industry to decide.”
Sustainability is a journey, of course, with bumps in the road and an impatient industry that wants to see fast results. “But look where we are,” said Uncu Aki, proudly. “We have the capacity. Right now we have the fiber, we have the dye stuff. And you are now able to make the right product, the right fabric using all the inputs that we have from our innovators. It will not happen all of a sudden, that’s for sure, but we need to support this journey to the end and support innovators that we believe in.”