The Netherlands’ Fashion for Good has teamed up with a collective of companies to accelerative the use of hemp as an alternative to conventional cotton in denim.
The global denim market is huge; projected to surpass USD 115 billion by 2029 according to one forecast. But the denim industry also has a significant environmental impact through its use of cotton, a crop that is resource intensive. Just in terms of water, it can take thousands of litres of water for growing the cotton needed for a single pair of denim jeans. Pesticide use is also a concern.
The use of hemp in denim is nothing new, but its uptake by the industry has been very limited due to challenges associated with achieving the same sort of “handfeel” and other attributes consumers have come to expect from denim. Where it is used, the proportion of hemp fiber is usually quite low — up to 20%.
To address these and other challenges, Fashion for Good has launched the “Beyond50 Denim: Combining Cottonised Hemp and Green Chemistry” project. Fashion for Good’s mission is to help groundbreaking fashion solutions reach scale and transform the industry.
The Beyond50 Denim project involves a number of other companies including:
- BESTSELLER
- C&A
- Reformation
- PDS Limited
- Target
- SEFF
- FIBRE52™
- Bossa (Turkey)
- Nice Denim (Bangladesh).
“With Beyond50 Denim, we aim to demonstrate that overcoming these barriers requires more than isolated technological advances,” said Fashion for Good Managing Director Katrin Ley. “By strategically combining breakthrough fibre technology with green chemistry, the project shows how different innovations can work together to tackle long-standing challenges in the denim industry.”
The project is seeking to integrate two technologies:
- SEFF’s Nano-Pulse™: which transforms raw hemp into refined, cotton-like fibres that are easier to spin and integrate into fabrics
- FIBRE52™’s: a “green” chemistry solution that can give a softer handfeel to fabrics based on cellulose fibre.
The project aims to validate how hemp content in denim can exceed 20%, and reach 50% or even higher; offering a more sustainable alternative for the denim industry while maintain cotton-like attributes important to consumers.
There’s a lot to like about hemp-based denim — for example, hemp is more durable, insulating and absorbent fabric than cotton. It’s one of the myriad uses of industrial hemp.
