Jeans to get designed for the better

The fashion industry is finally starting to come to the sustainability party! 

While it has long been seen as the bad boy of environmental good practice, there are signs that things are starting to change. The latest reflection of this, are the Jeans Redesign Guidelines, developed by the Ellen MacCarthur Foundation, through their Make Fashion Circular initiative.

These guidelines represent effort by fashion brands and manufacturers to transform how they produce jeans - which has long been one of the most toxic of all the clothing processes. The guidelines aim to tackle waste, pollution and harmful practices, and build on the C2C Gold Certificate that was a joint initiative between C&A and Fashion For Good.

They feature a minimum set of requirements covering durability, material health, recyclability and traceability, all based on the principles of circular economy (championed by the Ellen MacCarthur Foundation). Jeans made by using these guidelines will last longer, be easier to recycle, made in a way that is better for the environment, and for the better health of the garment workers.

Confirmed brands already involved include;

Arvind Limited, Bestseller, C&A, GAP, H&M, Hirdaramani, Lee Jeans, Mud Jeans, Outerknown and Tommy Hilfiger.

Clothing recycling specialist who have confirmed support include;

Recover, Circular Systems, HKRITA, Infinited Fiber Company, Tylon Biosciences LLC, Wolkat and Worn Again.

Francois Souchet from Make Fashion Circular, says;

"The way we produce jeans is causing huge problems with waste and pollution, but it doesn't have to be this way. By working together we can create jeans that last longer, that can be remade into new jeans at the end of their use, and are made in ways which are better for the environment and the people that make them."

The new guidelines include;

• Jeans must be able to stand up to at least 30 domestic washes
• They must have garment labels with clear information on product care
• They should be produced using cellulose fibres from regenerative, organic or transitional farming methods
• The cellulose fibres must make up at least 98% of the garment (by weight)
• Metal rivets should be designed out, or kept to an absolute minimum
• They must be made free from hazardous chemicals and conventional electroplating
• Stonefinishing, Potassium Permanganate and sandblasting are all prohibited

There should also be traceability - with information included relating to each element of these guideline requirements. Brands will then be eligible to use the Jeans Redesign Logo, but all organisations will be reassessed annually, based on their compliance with reporting requirements.

The first pairs of jeans to bear this logo are due on sale in 2020.

Research:
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/make-fashion-circular-launches-the-jeans-redesign
https://circom.co.uk/jeans-redesign-ellen-macarthur-foundation-launches-new-circular-economy-guidelines/
https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/make-fashion-circular-launches-jeans-redesign/2019071744295

Did Glasto beat the plastic?

The official Glastonbury website, back in February this year, informed attendees that no single-use plastic bottles would be available at the festival this year, and that was to include backstage, catering and even dressing rooms. The message on the website was, "leave this beautiful countryside in the state that it deserves."

To encourage the use of reusable water bottles, 850 refill taps were to be available, additional Water Aid stations, as well as free tap water refills at all onsite bars.

If you go back to the previous festival in 2017, they processed a staggering 45 tonnes of aluminium cans onsite at the end of the weekend! And with vendors now going to be selling more canned soft drinks, this volume is expected to be much higher for 2019. But the ban on single-use bottles should lead to a significant reduction in plastic recycling, from the 40 tonnes they got through two years ago, when figures are known.

It's also worth noting that there was only wooden cutlery for food, paper plates, and even biodegradable confetti for the big bang stage effects! And to top it off, Sir David Attenborough appeared on the Pyramid Stage to reinforce the no plastic message, pointing out that one million fewer plastic bottles would be in circulation because of the site ban.

(Clean up begins - photo: Press Association)

Lucy Wagstaffe, reporting for Euronews, attended the weekend, and said that while the message was good, there was up to a 30 minute wait to get your free water refill, despite their being around 850 taps to choose from. Initial reports indicated that many more had heeded the request to take away tents, although an early figure of over 99% removal rate, has since been downgraded to more like 93% - either way this shows a drastic improvement on two years ago.

While there was a ban on plastics being sold inside, there were no moves to stop people bringing their own plastic in, and unfortunately many tonnes of the stuff still came in and was inextricably strewn across the massive site, despite an abundance of bins (around 15,000) and a recycling centre.

Now, a week after the festival ended, a clean-up crew of over 1,000 volunteers is well on the way to getting the site back to shape and ready to receive it's more normal clientele - cows. But it is expected that the full transformation may take up to six weeks in total, as they wade through mountains of discarded camping chairs, inflatable mattresses and flip flops!

It also turned out that the onsite Co-op store didn't get the eco-message for the weekend. They were still selling plenty of items in non-recyclable packaging. But overall, the BBC reported from the onsite recycling team, that they had confirmed 'a massive reduction in the amount of plastic on the site this year - the least ever seen, by a distance.'

Many news sites and papers were quick to jump on the before and after with the plastic story, and point out that despite the strong message from festival organisers, the mess was the same as ever and that this, somehow, ruined the festivals environmental message.

Fullfact.Org looked into this, and found that many of the post-festival litter strewn photos that have been shared in the last week or so on social media and the press, are in fact old ones. One common one they saw, was actually a Press Association photo from the 2015 festival. It has been pointed out that most of the big festivals now, use similar clean-up systems, and indeed there have been many other non-music events in recent years that also produce high levels of litter - Royal Ascot and the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge being mentioned, amongst others.

The final word goes to helper, Gillian Hodgson, talking to Somerset Live, who said that, "I picked up litter last year too, and there was far less this time around. People really made an effort this year.... The only things in our non-recyclable waste bags was the odd crisp packet and loads of fag ends. Dropping fag ends is the thing we would like people to stop doing. There were thousands of them on the ground each morning."  

From:
BBC News
Euronews.com
SomersetLive.co.uk
Glastonburyfestival.co.uk
EnergyLiveNews.com