Recycling Denim
The fashion industry is a place of creativity, expression, and innovation. Despite all of the positives and good that come from this world, it is by no means perfect. As global warming and climate change continue to be a global issue - bordering crisis - every industry must look at how they can change to help the effort in saving the planet. With the overconsumption of resources being one of the leading causes of global warming, the fashion industry has begun to talk about the changes they can and should be making in their effort to try and reverse the negative effects things like fast fashion have on the Earth. Although it isn’t yet at the pace it should be, people in the fashion world are taking action and trying to prevent further damage, one field that has had considerable progress is the denim industry!
Jeans are a fashion staple, a part of your forever wardrobe, and they are built for just that, to be around forever! But jeans are still a part of trends despite denim itself never truly going out of style, which means they are often discarded like all other clothing, so what do you do with the jeans you no longer want to wear? With the increased efforts by the fashion industry to conserve and reuse resources as much as possible, simply throwing them out is not the way to go about getting rid of your jeans.
Brands like Levis and Madewell are taking advantage of their recyclable properties and have set up programs to make recycling denim easy! Both companies accept jeans in any condition, from all brands and will take them off your hands and turn them into materials for building insulation. So after your jeans have helped you stay warm through the years, they get a new life in keeping countless others warm!
Although this is one amazing way of recycling, there are even more basic ways to recycle jeans and help save the environment while you're at it! If your jeans are still in great condition and may be someone's perfect pair, instead of throwing them out, donate them to your nearest thrift stores so that others can give them a second life to be styled!
Of course denim recycling doesn’t always mean your jeans have to leave your house and be sent somewhere else! There are so many different ways to recycle your old jeans from the comfort of your home. Whether that be turning them into new pieces of clothing like shorts or a skirt to making them into something completely different, like cleaning rags! No matter your skill set there is an up-cycling project for you!
Of course denim is just a small piece of the fashion industry, but it is a huge step and the recycling or up-cycling of your jeans can lead you to have an overall more environmentally conscious mindset!