Diesel Creates Circular Collection with Tejidos Royo & REFIBRA™
Italian denim brand Diesel is turning waste into new wardrobe items. The label’s Rehab Denim line combines spinning and cutting scraps, recycled elastane and TENCEL™ Lyocell with REFIBRA™ technology for circular jeans with a lower impact.
For this collection, Diesel worked with Spanish denim mill Tejidos Royo. The mill has experience working with REFIBRA™ fibers, which are made from a mix of cotton scraps and wood pulp. Tejidos Royo has also developed circular collections before for collaborators like Mud Jeans.
Elevating the Rehab Denim collection’s sustainability credentials, the denim is dyed using Tejidos Royo’s Dry Indigo Technology. Launched in 2018, this process uses zero water while also heavily reducing the chemicals and energy used.
“Diesel and Tejidos Royo are working for a better world,” said Jose Royo, vice president at Tejidos Royo. “It’s the beginning of a new era. Denim will never be as it was—renewed or die.”
A few pieces from Rehab Denim debuted during Diesel’s fall/winter 2022 runway show, and the full capsule collection is now available for pre-spring 2023. The capsule is retailing in select Diesel stores and on the brand’s website. All of the pieces contain a QR code that links to details about how the products are made and provides authentication.
Men’s, women’s and gender-neutral styles in the collection include zip up trucker jackets, oversized bombers, cargo pants, an asymmetrical A-line skirt and low-rise straight leg jeans. The range features three washes: fade out, bleach and shadow—a mix between indigo and gray.
Completing the circular approach, once consumers are done with their Rehab Denim looks, Diesel will buy them back for resale or recycling. Diesel is billing this as its first “denim recovery program.”
“As much as denim is the brand’s heritage and identity, it is a category that demands constant innovation, re-evaluation and evolution to stay creative, relevant and future-minded,” Diesel explained. “Diesel Rehab Denim is an ongoing process of learning and evolving to implement the most effective sustainability practices into our denim legacy.”