Advance Denim, Lenzing and Officina+39 Collaborate on Cotton-Free Denim
How do you make a more sustainable pair of jeans? A great place to start is material choice.
While denim has traditionally required cotton, mills are now creating denim fabrics that have no cotton content, leveraging low-impact wood-based materials such as TENCEL™ Lyocell and TENCEL™ Modal. The Lenzing Denim team recently partnered with denim mill Advance Denim and chemical firm Officina+39 to showcase how classic jean looks and feels can be accomplished in a zero-cotton composition.
“In the past, zero-cotton fabrics were known to have a softer feel and a cleaner look. The creation of an authentic vintage look and a respectively drier hand feel using TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers will inspire new design possibilities and aesthetics for denim brands, which ultimately means greater variety of sustainable denim options for consumers,” said Tuncay Kılıçkan, head of global business development, denim at Lenzing. “The partnership between TENCEL™, Advance Denim and Officina+39 is truly encouraging and underscores our relentless efforts and commitment towards pioneering denim innovations which empower the creation of more sustainable denim products, ultimately reducing the environmental footprint of the denim industry.”
For this collaborative collection, Advance Denim created innovative fabrics using TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers. The denim was then finished using Officina+39’s treatments, including an eco-friendly bleach and its Aqualess wash process that restricts water to rinsing steps to offer a 75 percent water savings. Together, the partners developed denim that has the same appearance as cotton jeans without the cotton.
“The purpose of this collaboration is to combine zero-cotton garments with our unique eco-washing technique to achieve the authentic conventional look and wash that is generally achieved on cotton denim,” said Andrea Venier, managing director of Officina+39. “The collaboration matches perfectly with our ‘Aqualess Mission’ as we continue to explore new ways to enhance the efficiency of our production process while reducing the use of energy, space and water resources.”
In addition to sustainability benefits, denim made of TENCEL™ Lyocell offers performance properties including improved moisture management and temperature regulation. They are also soft and comfortable.
From a product development perspective, TENCEL™ Lyocell is also laser-friendly, enabling lower impact finishing treatments to be used effectively. Conventional TENCEL™ Lyocell imparts a subtle sheen, or matte TENCEL™ can be used to give a less shiny look.
Cotton-free denim is catching on, and we hope to inspire the industry with this collection.
“The collaboration with TENCEL™ and Advance Denim is founded on our shared vision to create denim products with minimal environmental impact,” said Michael Lam, director of Advance Denim. “By combining a mix of sustainable fibers to create a zero-cotton fabric and a low-impact eco-washing technique, we are offering unique denim innovation that will truly appeal to the needs of denim brands and the industry as a whole. Our hope is that this collaboration will encourage industry-wide innovations for the sustainable development of the sector.”
Visit the Lenzing booth at Kingpins New York July 19-20 to see the collection in person.
