Denim Deal 2.0 Takes a Global Approach to Scaling Circularity
Back in 2020, the Dutch government established the Green Deal on Circular Denim. The three-year-long initiative brought together mills and manufacturers and brands with the goal of producing 3 million pairs of jeans with at least 20 percent post-consumer recycled content. Additionally, signatories—including PVH and Mud Jeans—agreed to work toward a standard that all denim would contain at least 5 percent recycled content.
“The idea is straightforward: move towards a circular denim industry by shifting towards the use of recycled textile in all denim products,” states the initiative in its recap “Lessons of the Denim Deal” booklet. “The purpose of the Denim Deal is to work with leading parties across the denim value chain to close the loop and thus achieve the necessary sustainable, systemic change in the value chain.”
Now that the initial Denim Deal has wrapped, after exceeding its 3 million-pair target, the program has entered its second phase and is going global. The second chapter officially launched at Bluezone earlier this year. As it expands, the target has also expanded to 1 billion pairs of jeans with 20 percent PCR cotton. There is also a focus on not just mechanical recycling, but also chemical cotton recycling this time around.
In addition to surpassing its initial goal, the Denim Deal’s survey showed that participants grew the portion of their production volume that contained at least 20 percent PCW cotton from 13 percent in 2020 to 53 percent in 2022. However, a Denim Deal survey showed there are still challenges in scaling up the use of PCW cotton, including having more feedstock available to recyclers and raising consumer awareness.
Lenzing has been a member of the Denim Deal from its first phase, and it is among the 33 members of Denim Deal 2.0. We support the industry in the push toward circularity through our REFIBRA™ technology, which uses cotton waste as a feedstock. TENCEL™ Lyocell and Modal are also blending partners that help to strengthen and soften shorter mechanically recycled cotton.
“As Lenzing, we support the Denim Deal 2.0 project as we did just like the first one since the impact at scale is being considered here in a global approach, which is very important to hit the tangible goals,” said Tuncay Kilickan, head of global business development, denim at Lenzing. “Besides the targets are set with a consideration of durability which is nothing to underestimate. In this respect, the second edition will therefore embrace chemical recycling as much as mechanical just like REFIBRA™ technology.”
For now, all members are positioned under an international hub in the Netherlands, but the plan is to eventually open regional hubs in South America, North America, Sub India and Asia Pacific. The focus is on markets where there is a lot of denim to fuel recycling.
During Kingpins Show in April, we joined other members for a meeting and to sign a manifesto, reinforcing our commitment. We are looking for more companies to join us in this journey.
“We are just at the beginning of an incredible journey to reshape the industry and bring purpose back to the heart of business,” wrote the Denim Deal on LinkedIn as it reflected on Kingpins. “If you share the same beliefs, we invite you to join our movement.”