SPRING’S BEST ECO-FRIENDLY DENIM

It’s cooler than ever to be conscious.

THE TEAM

PHOTOGRAPHER Laurence Ellis @laurenceellis
STYLIST Nike Fröhling Felldin | LundLund @nikesofiaamorina
MODEL Flora Carter | Storm Management @flora_carter for @stormmodelscout
MODEL Camille Munn Francis | Select Models @camille.munn for @selectmodelmgmt
HAIR Zé Carlos Taipa @zecarlostaipa
MAKEUP Liliana Ribeiro @lilianaribeiro_makeup

ADVERTISING

WHAT IS CONSCIOUS DENIM?
H&M has two types of conscious denim: Organic Denim, which is made from organic cotton, and ”Close the Loop” denim, which is partly made from recycled cotton.

The Close the Loop jeans  – worn by Flora above – are made from post-consumer collection schemes, like H&M’s garment collecting programme. When you drop off your old, unwanted clothes at an H&M store, you give them new life. The old cotton fibres are spun into new yarn and woven into new denim fabrics.

The Close the Loop jeans are each made from approximately 20% recycled fibres. Why not more? Because the technology isn’t that advanced yet. Recycled fibres are not as long as new fibres, so in order to make durable jeans (i.e. jeans that you’ll wear for a looong time), you actually have to mix recycled fibres with new fibres.

WHY SHOULD YOU WEAR IT?
Because it’s easier than ever to be cute and earth friendly at the same time. By recycling old cotton fibres, you help Mother Earth in several ways: You save lots and lots of water, since you don’t have to produce as much new cotton. Plus, you don’t have to use all the chemicals normally used when making a brand new pair of jeans.

There is also another great thing about using PCW, post-consumer waste, to create new jeans – it stops discarded clothes from ending up at landfill sites.

H&M uses criteria from leading denim sustainability consultants Jeanologia to measure the water-, chemical- and energy consumption when creating jeans. To achieve the best score on the scale – ”green”, the water consumption can’t be more than 35 litres of water per pair of jeans.

HOW TO BE EVEN MORE EARTH-FRIENDLY?
Don’t wash your jeans too often! It’s great that big companies and brands use less water and more recycled cotton when making jeans, but there’s actually a lot we can do ourselves. Number one rule – never wash your jeans unless it’s needed. If they seem a little murky, let them hang outside in the fresh air for a while. If you have to, wash them in cold water.