Top 10 Carved in Blue Stories of 2023
2023 brought a renewed sense of creativity and ingenuity to sustainability in the denim space. Mills developed denim without cotton, embraced new circular initiatives and invested in materials that are better for the planet.
Some of the highlights for the TENCEL™ Denim team were our meetings with our partners at trade shows and events around the globe. We enjoy seeing what manufacturers come up with, and we can’t wait to see what is next in 2024.
Here were the top stories on Carved in Blue this year.
10. TENCEL™ Denim Takes Trends and Textile Innovations on the Road
Moving sustainability forward in denim is going to require collaboration up and down the value chain. Our recent activation sought to bring key players together for education, inspiration and interaction to advance the use of TENCEL™ fibers.
On Aug. 9, our TENCEL™ Denim Road Show gathered the denim community in Guangzhou. Held in collaboration with the China Textile Information Center, the event aimed to expand awareness for TENCEL™ fibers while also providing a platform to inform the industry on our innovations, including matte TENCEL™, TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color technology and TENCEL™ Lyocell with REFIBRA™ technology…
9. Mill Memo: North American Mills Discuss Their TENCEL™ Denim Collections
Over the years, it has become easier to find denim fabrics containing TENCEL™ Lyocell or Modal as mills scale up their use of these fibers to meet sustainability, design or performance characteristics.
Adding TENCEL™ to denim creates textiles that are soft and comfortable, with a smaller ecological impact. The fibers can also create a variety of looks—from a subtle sheen to matte and slubby…
8. How Lenzing’s Sustainability Efforts Support ‘Better Growth’
On the heels of Earth Day, we’re looking back at Lenzing’s sustainability wins over the last year.
2022 brought about many milestones to celebrate, which are covered in our newly launched Sustainability Report. In climate action, we achieved an 18 percent reduction in specific greenhouse gas emissions compared to our 2017 baseline. This progress puts us further on our path toward our science-based targets to halve our carbon emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. In line with these goals, we have launched carbon-zero fibers, including LENZING™ FR and TENCEL™ Modal Micro that debuted in 2022…
7. Want to Boost Your TENCEL™ Knowledge? Get Our App
Since TENCEL™ fibers debuted commercially three decades ago, a growing portfolio of brands have been leveraging the materials for fashion and home goods, including denim.
Along the way, we’ve fielded countless questions from retailers about TENCEL™—from its sustainability profile to the ideal end-of-life disposal methods. Both merchants and their customers increasingly want to know more about the ingredients inside their products. While we would love to sit down with retail teams in person to do trainings, it’s not always possible to get everyone in the same place…
6. Industry Voices: Mill Execs on the State of Denim
Along with the rest of the apparel industry, denim has recently faced some ups and downs due to economic fluctuations and changing consumer behavior. For a window into what is happening on the ground, Carved in Blue is catching up with industry figures—including executives at mills and consultants—to get their perspective.
Here, denim manufacturing leaders from Bossa, Tejidos Royo and Naveena Denim Ltd. weigh in on what they are seeing and the path ahead for the category…
5. Blue Cast: Soorty’s Eda Dikmen on Advancing Creativity with AI
The five-pocket jean is a timeless classic for a reason. But sometimes it’s beneficial to shake up denim silhouettes.
Recently, denim mill Soorty used artificial intelligence as an antidote to the industry’s sameness. Dubbed HumAIn, the project uses AI as a tool rather than a replacement for the human touch in design…
4. 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…
3. Upcycling’s ‘Unintentional Pioneer’ Juan Carlos Gordillo on His Eco Denim Capsule
Today, upcycling has become a sustainable fashion trend, but recycling fabrics did not always have the popularity or appreciation it has now.
Designer Juan Carlos Gordillo was an early adopter of used fabrics, sourcing garments from secondhand markets and using the materials to create new fashion. He embraced “textile trash” because the previously used fabrics fit his budget, whereas new fabrics did not…
2. Why Candiani Denim Believes Regenerative Cotton Will Overtake Organic
In cotton sourcing, denim brands have a wider array of options today than before. Along with conventional cotton, there are also crops grown using organic and/or regenerative methods.
Around 70 percent of cotton grown in 2021 was made using industrial farming methods. Organic cotton adoption has been growing at the farm level, but it is still under 1 percent of the market. Making the switch to organic takes time since no prohibited pesticides and fertilizers can have been used for three years on the soil…
1. Slideshow: On the Floor at Kingpins Show New York
Last week, Kingpins Show was back on in New York. The Lenzing Denim team was on site at Pier 36’s Basketball City from July 19-20 to see the latest in denim and showcase our own innovations.
At the Lenzing booth, we showcased zero cotton and zero virgin cotton concepts. Among these collections was the collaboration we recently did with Advance Denim and Officina+39 to create denim that had a traditional look and feel with no cotton. These authentic look and dry hand feel features would make the zero cotton concept interesting also for menswear with classic denim habits…