Blue, gold and green: Orta threads an 'ecolution'
Turkey-based denim mill Orta launched its “ecolution” while presenting its SS22 concept during Première Vision’s Digital Denim Week in early December.
The idea of being “deeply rooted in ethical innovation, circularity, transparency, authenticity, ultra-performance and durability” is central to Orta’s vision of an “ecolution” with the SS22 collection, marketing and washing manager, Zennure Danisman, told Inside Denim.
Key to this deeply rooted concept is Orta’s “golden ratio”, a “perfect mix” of pre- and post-consumer recycled materials and “alternative” natural materials, which Ms Danisman said would become Orta’s “standard” going forward.
“The idea behind Orta’s golden ratio is to find the optimum balance of circular materials while achieving premium denim constructions for performance, without compromising the denim’s look, feel and durability. This can be described as ecoengineering and our main objective is to reduce our consumption of virgin cotton,” Ms Danisman explained.
Generation Hemp (or Gen H) is one example of Orta’s efforts in this vein. Gen H has a 20% hemp content, combined with recycled cotton, organic cotton and Tencel x Refibra (Tencel is a wood-based cellulosic fibre, while Refibra technology upcycles cotton scraps to make cotton pulp, which, when added to wood pulp, is subsequently transformed into virgin Tencel lyocell fibre). Ms Danisman described the results of this mix as “the most eco-idealist fabric”, capable of “revolutionising the future of fashion”.
Another side to the “ecolution” Orta announced at Digital Denim Week is the mills’ virtual opening of the “new denim route” (a concept based on the ancient silk roads), which involves the mill transparently sharing its “global sourcing map” via the OrtaBlu platform.
Kayseri, the beating “heart” of Orta’s manufacturing, was once an important hub along the silk roads and, following more than half a century in denim manufacturing, Orta envisions itself as continuing the city’s “rich legacy of trade, shared ideas and the flow of information” with OrtaBlu.
Image: Orta.
