Beijing’s Zhilian ‘reinvents’ denim after Ellen MacArthur
Local media have reported that Beijing’s Zhilian textiles company released its first denim jeans product created in line with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s 2019 jeans redesign guidelines in mid-November. The product is called Re+Invent.
Launched in July 2019, the UK-based foundation’s jeans redesign project emphasised the need for minimum standards pertaining to the durability, safety (fabric-wise), recyclability and traceability of denim jeans, as per the principles of a circular economy and circular fashion. (As of mid-November 2020, more than 60 global apparel brands, retailers, factories, fabric manufacturers and recyclers, non-governmental organisations and other bodies have joined in with the initiative.)
Since getting on board with the jeans redesign project in November 2019, Zhilian has focused on making denim with circularity in mind. The result, Re+Invent, is composed of a mixture of organic cotton, Tencel lyocell fibre (a sustainable wood-based, cellulosic fibre) and Lycra EcoMade fibre (a form of elastane, made with pre-consumer content) and dyed using “clean” indigo dyeing techniques.
The Re+Invent jeans are furthermore air-finished using the company’s own “iconic” and “environmentally friendly” process, which “comprehensively improves” the safety and performance of the denim, local media said.
Both laser- and recycling-friendly, according to media reports, the jeans maintain “excellent physical durability” after 30 washings.
Image: H&M.
