Material Sponsors: 
Project type: Assessment Online Platform / Capsule Collection
Everyone should have access to sustainable clothes.
Generic yet Individual, Jeans can be found in closets worldwide. This omnipresence made it the optimal garment to bring change to the current fashion system. With this purpose, came several questions:
How to make sustainable denim available and affordable?
How to democratize sustainable fashion?
Eager to find answers, this project was created to provide denim brands and manufacturers with solutions to enable a shift towards sustainable production.
Denim Footprint, created an Optimized Step by Step Online Guideline, where the ecological and social impacts were studied to provide Design Strategies, Production Supply Chain alternatives, User Phase recommendations and End-Beginning of Life choices for denim products.
The guideline created different Key Performance Indicators separated in 3 modules: Environment, Social Responsibility/Working Conditions and Circularity. These indicators were used to measure and compare the resources used by each alternative: e.g. between organic or recycled fiber, natural or synthetic dye, finishing technologies or shifting to a circular production model.
/ Textiles & Production /Created a guideline (available in print & online) for brands and producers to design and manufacture jeans. The guide outlines how to reduce negative environmental externalities, improve social wellbeing and considers the end-of-life of the products.
/ Design / Following the Denim Footprint guideline, a denim capsule collection was developed using innovative design strategies: Design for Longevity, for Circularity, for Repair and for Resource Saving.
/ Marketing & Business /The capsule collection acts as a communication tool; illustrating cutting edge sustainable design concepts.
Denim Footprint’s goal is to stimulate the denim industry to improve by pointing out how each part has the power to create a positive impact, and make sustainable denim accessible and available to all.
The project was showcased in 2017 at the Volkswagen DRIVE Showroom in Berlin, and was nominated to the German Federal Eco-Design Award in 2018.
The KPI’s stated in the Guideline, promote economic growth, labour rights, obedience to contracts and regulations, and fair trade interactions.
Denim Footprint aims to advance sustainable production of denim in the textile sector; promoting innovation and new technologies for manufacturers.
Responsible production methods will lead to responsible consumption; consumers will become aware of the matter and demand sustainable production practices.
*For more information visit: www.denimfootprint.com