Wash away the winter blues with quadruple denim.
Every week, we deliver DROP EVERYTHING – a first-class round-up of the most urgent, sustainable, progressive and forward-thinking releases that need to go straight into your wardrobe.
No one can deny denim’s importance in fashion. Sure, white denim can make you look like you’re holding down a managerial role at Tiger Tiger and not everyone can pull off what Timberlake did with stuff; but it’s one of the easiest, sturdiest fabrics you can sling on and rely on. Unless you’re a full-time nudist, we can guarantee that you will have owned once something denim: and even then, maybe nudists have denim hats or bags or something.
Problem is, it’s not all too sustainable. In fact, it’s full-on ridic: one pair of old Levi’s uses 3,781 litres of water, equivalent to the amount used for a rather generous shower every day for two months. That’s not to mention the 33kg of CO2e created through the pair’s lifespan, an emission one-hundred times the weight of the jeans themselves.
Not fear, though, denim lovers. We’ve mined our sustainable connects for sustainable jeans and jackets to literally get stuck into, including new releases from Tommy and Wrangler as well as two emerging brands you need to keep your peepers on.
TOMMY JEANS
TJ’s Spring 2021 campaign, ‘Music Takes Us Further’, pirouettes around the idea that music drives social change. They’re proving the sentiment with an A-Team of musicians, poets, and activists, from eco-rapper Akini Jing to trans visibility creative Kai-Isaiah Jamal. The collection itself is equally stellar when it comes to its sustainable attributes: it includes world-first 100% recycled jeans, plus classic Tommy colour-block jackets in organic cotton and 90s dungaree shorts to rave about when you go rave.
As the brand puts it, we need a society that ‘wastes nothing and welcomes all’. Denim factories literally cause nearby rivers to run blue – so we love to see a major brand ride the sustainable wave and run a collection that’s 100% recycled.
Drop everything and get…the Tommy Badge Gathered Denim Shirt Dress, a cute-as organic cotton dress set to be muddied and cider-stained in a field this (?!) summer.
WRANGLER
The fashion world’s still on a bit of a rootin-tootin hype right now, so this new SS21 wardrobe from Wrangler is just desserts for us all. We’ve been treated to new takes on heritage pieces, topping-up classic straight fits with tapered silhouettes, distressed details and vintage dyes.
The collection’s ‘gentle footprint’ is thanks to its use of 20% post-consumer recycled cotton, which is undoubtedly just a small step but at least cowboy ‘bootprint’ the denim world usually lands us with.
Drop everything and get…the Faded Blue Greensboro Jeans, and hit the open road that is your apartment corridor.
ALZANG x LULATAGG
Most denim collections aren’t a patch on this miniature capsule from London-based studio Alzang and sustainable denim collective Lulatagg. Coming about after Alzang pledged this year to use eco-friendly materials and hitch up their sizing, it’s a patchwork timbre of blue, white and indigo denim that entirely consists of recycled and donated materials.
Huge props, too, to the imagery goes with it. We really needed this Skittles-like explosion of background colour right now, especially when the real world is so monochrome at the mo.
Drop everything and get…the patchwork trench coat and feel like Timberlake and Britney combined circa 2001.
IANDME
You need to check out IANDME, too. The Hackney-based lifestyle brand is anything but hackneyed, cooking-up sustainably produced denim pieces with a focus on form and lifespan. Their collections see them link-up with Japanese mills to produce small-scale, high-quality runs, as limited and seasonless as a bag of Salt & Shake crisps (but way, way more exciting).
Their newest collection – As Daydreams Go – is a minimalist’s treat, full of clean-cut pieces to pair with anything you can get your hands on. They’re also running an archive sale right now, too, with mega savings on some properly dynamite denim.
Drop everything and get…the Selvedge Drill Pants, topped with poppers and combat vibes.
