Eco-Friendly and Fair Trade Denim
Everyone has that favorite pair of jeans, the ones that seem to fit just right and make you feel confident every time you wear them. Maybe denim is your go-to for everyday wear, from casual to classy, as it is for us! A great pair of jeans or a chic jean jacket combine style and function in a way that not many other pieces of clothing can (except the Little Black Dress, of course!).
The Live Creative Studio team is passionate about sustainability and also committed to looking good. So, we made a list of our favorite eco-friendly denim brands that bring together ethics, quality, and style. Forget the fast fashion trends and say hello to a pair of long-lasting, conscious jeans!
If you’re on the search for a new denim brand that has both your style and the planet in mind, check out our list below or visit our Sustainable Marketplace to discover a whole world of like-minded ethical brands leading the change in how we make everything good for people and the planet—from apparel and beauty to outdoor gear, furniture, and home goods. (Yes, the “spending power” revolution is happening, check it out here.)
1. Reformation
Reformation’s design mission is to make effortless silhouettes that celebrate the feminine figure. They are committed to making fashion sustainable by using 75% of fibers that are:
A–Allstars: Natural fibers that are rapidly renewable, plant-based and have a potential for circularity.
B–Better than most: B fibers are almost all natural or recycled fibers.
2. DL1961
Beautiful denim garments that are the perfect fusion of fit, fabric, function and sustainable manufacturing. DL1961 is a family-owned company that’s been in the denim business for decades. They are “dedicated to creating the most optimized facility possible for water, energy, and dye use; as well as creating a vertical supply chain, which allows us to control and audit the entire process.
ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS
Touted for their durability and derived from nature, all Lenzing™ brand fiber types used to make DL1961 are certified as compostable and biodegradable, and can fully revert back to nature.
CLEAN DYES
By using laser machines and Ozone technology, we eliminate the need for harmful chemicals and bleach in our finishing processes. We use Dystar 40% VAT, a clean form of liquid indigo. We’re one of only 12 mills on the planet to utilize this pre-reduced indigo blend that minimizes water usage and has no harmful byproducts.
3. Bluer Denim
“Selvage denim inspired by the past. Sustainably sourced and kindly made for the future. Trend hunters need not apply.” Bluer Denim responsibly sources their fabrics to make classic, long-lasting jeans. They are carbon neutral and ethically produced. Further, they established a “Denim Rescue program” to rescue denim from the landfill. Before tossing your old jeans, send them to Bluer and they’ll give you a $10 credit. If your old jeans are in good condition, they’ll wash them and deliver them to a Pacific Northwest shelter. If they’re well-loved, we’ll recycle them into earth-friendly insulation materials. Stay tuned, as Bluer Denim just may figure out ow to recycle jeans into new selvage denim in the future.
4. Mott & Bow
Premium-grade jeans at a reasonable price. Mott & Bow uses the finest denim fabrics from responsible mills and applies a manually intensive artistic process to transform the materials into an effortlessly beautiful denim.
5. LEVI’S WellThread Collection
Levi’s WellThread collection is the pinnacle of their sustainability efforts and aspirations. They’re lowering their impact on the planet at every step of the design and manufacturing process, and producing high-quality denim along the way.
FULL-CIRCLE WITH LEVI’S® WELLTHREAD™
This is their most sustainable collection. It’s designed and modeled on four guiding principles: Materials, People, Environment and Process. We make Levi’s® WellThread™ in Worker Well-Being facilities with rain-fed Cottonized Hemp, Water<Less® technologies and as many recycled materials as we can. And every thread is designed to be recycled (not that you’ll need to replace anything from this collection anytime soon).
COTTONIZED HEMP
Something you’ll hear a lot about as the industry becomes more sustainable is Cottonized Hemp. Why hemp? Because compared to cotton, it grows quicker, uses less water and leaves behind cleaner, healthier soils. Specially designed for Levi’s®, this new innovative hemp yarn is soft like cotton — and easily woven into styles like their Stay Loose Jeans.
CLEANING UP THE FINISHING PROCESS WITH WATER<LESS®
Unless you’re buying raw denim, your denim’s been finished. It’s the last but most crucial step in denim production, giving jeans and jean jackets a broken-in look and feel from day one. Unfortunately, this process uses a lot of water. Or, it used to. Levi’s® Water<Less® innovations have saved more than 4.2 billion liters of water from the finishing process (that’s enough to fill 1,680 Olympic-size pools!) and recycled over 9 billion more (you do the math). And by 2021, at least 80% of Levi’s® jeans will be finished with Water<Less® techniques. So instead of washing denim with fabric softener to create that worn-in feel, LEVI’s tumble jeans with bottle caps and golf balls, taking the water out of the wash altogether.
6. Unspun
Wan’t perfect fit jeans, ever time in every style? Unspun allows you to pick your cut, sytle, fabric, and more. Then you create a body scan using your iPhone, which Unspun then uses to custom-make YOUR sustainable denim pair of jeans with a perfect fit. Amazing, really. Unspun is a leading model of zero-waste fashion.
7. SLOW by Canvaloop
Jeans made out of naturally anti-microbial and breathable denim —spun from sustainable Himalayan Hemp. Enough said.
Best of luck on your quest for the perfect pair of jeans that not only look good, but do good. You can head to our Sustainable Marketplace to browse many more ethical and sustainable brands form A-Z. No more searching, just bookmark the Sustainable Marketplace and shop your values for anything you need, anytime, every time.
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Live Creative is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Our Creative Studio offers authentic marketing, branding, and sustainable business expertise to ethical, sustainable, and purpose brands. And Sustainable Business Team offers sustainability strategy and goals setting as well as sustainable packaging services. And, our Lifestyle Team curates our global Sustainable Marketplace, the Durango Sustainable Biz Guide, and Get Real—our inspiring Innovation for Good weekly newsletter. Follow us on Insta: @livecreativestudios, like us on Facebook: Live Creative Studio and join our FB Group: Sustainable Business Idea Exchange.
