Italian clothing retailer Diesel has launched the collaborative initiative “DIESELOVES,” emphasising community engagement and environmental responsibility. Designer Glen Martens spearheads a program inviting denim brands to create impactful collections addressing environmental waste. These collaborative creations use scrap materials to blend distinct brand aesthetics into celebratory offerings. Diesel’s partnership with American denim brand Lee marks the debut capsule, showcasing the fusion of both brands’ denim styles.
Individually-souced fabrics are pinned together across upcycled bottoms split by brand. Light and dark washes intertwine along frayed seams, resulting in diverse and unique fits. Each pair comes with “DIESELOVES Lee” badges, available in straight, flared, and bootcut designs.
The collection’s European and Japanese releases via Diesel are available, with a global launch scheduled for March 2024.
Diesel’s commitment to sustainability is evident in their recent endeavours. For instance, this year’s Diesel Rehab Denim collection focused on circularity, featuring specially crafted jeans incorporating denim scraps from Diesel’s own cutting waste. Additionally, Diesel collaborated with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) on a pilot project aimed at establishing a closed-loop recycling system for fabric scraps, showcasing the brand’s dedication to sustainable practices.
The Barbie Movie was the movie of the summer, grossing over $350 million in its opening weekend. It was the biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman. With the movie’s hype came a lot of merchandise and, yes, a lot of pink. Many fashion brands rose to the occasion to try and make a buck off of the movie.
Fast Fashion brands like Forever 21, Zara, Primark, and many more designed official Barbie clothing lines. NYX Cosmetics released a Barbie-inspired makeup set, and a Burger King in Brazil even made a pink barbecue sauce. If you didn’t own something Barbie pink and wanted to see the movie, you wouldn’t have to go far or spend a lot of money.
The problem with these huge marketing campaigns is a lot of waste. These trends and crazes come and go and eventually get donated or tossed out. Moreover, many people are only interested in buying these products to post on their social media platforms. Once that’s done, these items don’t serve much purpose.
Mattel goes sustainable
Fortunately, these merchandising trends and the negative environmental impact does not speak to the company that made Barbie. Mattel is trying to clean up its plastic use by 2030. The company aims to use 100 percent recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic in its toys and packaging. By 2030, the company hopes to make 75% of the clothing for dolls out of sustainable materials, including natural and recycled synthetic fibres.
According to their website, the plastic parts from their Barbie the Future of Pink is Green line is made from 90% plastic sources within 50 km of waterways in areas lacking formal waste collection systems. Among this line are Dr Jane Goodall and the Eco- Leadership Team Certified Carbon Neutral, Chief Sustainable Officer Barbie, a Renewable Energy Engineer Barbie and an Environmental Action Barbie to inspire kids to learn more about green careers.
Mattel even has a toy takeback program designed to recover and reuse plastic materials from old toys. The company has also successfully reduced the amount of plastic that goes into making its LEGO blocks. Their MegaBlocks and some FisherPrice toys are now made out of biobased plastics.
Barbie has come a long way since it first appeared on shelves in 1959. Changing how and what their dolls are made of could significantly impact the plant, especially as its popularity continues to rise.
How to support the Barbie Trend sustainably
Of course, this doesn’t make up for the brands playing into Barbie and the Barbie Movie’s fame. It might have even been a missed opportunity by Mattel to promote sustainability and sustainable fashion. But there are many ways you can promote sustainability on your own, especially if you want to jump on the Barbie pink trend:
Shop quality pieces that could be worn multiple times instead of supporting fast fashion brands
Choose sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton.
Support ethical brands
Create pink Barbie outfits with a DIY touch
Not giving in to fast fashion brands can be a small step to making a difference in how we market and support these box office movies. The Barbie Movie is not the first to have a ton of merchandising associated with it, and it won’t be the last. These brands have an opportunity to promote sustainability with the promotion of their brands. As mentioned, it might have been a missed opportunity by Mattel, who could have encouraged people to follow sustainable ways of dressing up for their movie. Think of how good an “I’m a Barbie Girl in a sustainable world” tagline would’ve been! Maybe we’ll do better with the Polly Pocket or Barney movies.
Fast fashion is a sector of the fashion industry whereby business models rely on cheap, rapid and large-scale production of low-quality clothing. Today’s clothing is made of durable and cheap materials such as nylon or polyester. Approximately 60% of fast fashion items are produced with plastic-based fabrics. The microplastics in these garments leach into the waterways with each wash and dry. Half a million tons of these contaminants enter the ocean each year. The fashion industry is also the world’s second-largest water supply consumer. On top of it all, more than 85% of the textiles and clothing purchased will end up in landfill every year.
Modern Synthesis, a biotechnology company, has created a biomaterial made from bacterial fermentation that can be used to create a low-carbon alternative to traditional clothing fabrics. The material the bacteria produces is called nanocellulose, which the company takes from waste feedstocks, including fruit or other agricultural waste. The bacteria will grow on that sugar and naturally produce nanocellulose.
The nanocellulose fibers are very strong and so small that they create strong bonds when they stick to each other. The fibers are eight times stronger than steel and stiffer than Kevlar. With the nanocellulose, the company is creating a material similar to nylon, ripstop fabric (woven fabric made out of nylon) or a coated textile. The material is designed to feel dry and warm, resembling cellulose or paper.
The process of creating the fabric can be adjusted by using different types of thread, some of which can biodegrade, while other threads can be recycled similarly to other cellulose. The project started with the creation of a shoe. Still, thanks to the material’s versatility, the company thinks it can be a good alternative to traditional textiles as it can also be dyed and given different coatings.
They believe their nanocellulose fibers are a significantly more sustainable fabric alternative to cotton, which takes a lot of resources and energy to transform. This material creates significantly fewer emissions than traditional textiles as it only requires transforming waste sugar into usable material. While the material is not yet available for consumer use, the company offers research, development, and consultation services to help brands make better, more environmentally friendly material choices.
As the fashion industry looks for more sustainable ways to make garments, many companies are moving towards using biomaterials to create new textiles. We are now seeing leathers made from fruits and vegetables, sequins made from algae, and so much more. As fast fashion continues to be a problem, the efforts that companies like Modern Synthesis are taking will help the industry reduce its environmental impact while continuing to clothe the world.
Two billion pairs of jeans are produced globally each year, requiring around 1.4 million tonnes of raw cotton. According to a 2015 study by Levi Strauss & Co, the lifecycle of one pair of their 501s uses up 3,781 litres of H2O.
This is not a great statistic when more than 10 per cent of the world’s population currently has no access to clean water. Add chemical treatments, carcinogenic dyes, washing, rinsing and finishing, and you’ve got an industry that’s anything but sustainable. But technology is improving, making it easier to find the right shade of ‘green’ blue jeans.
Wrangler’s Indigood range has a dying process that cuts energy waste by 60 per centWRANGLER
Based in Vietnam, Saitex is a denim manufacturing plant producing 20,000 pairs of jeans a day, and while that doesn’t sound especially eco, they’re the first Asian factory to join B Corporation, and represent the easiest route to buying better jeans. Instead of 80 litres, each pair of jeans uses 1.5 litres of water during the rinsing process, saving them 430 million litres per year.
Saitex recycles 98 per cent of the water it uses, lasers have replaced traditional stone washing and sandblasting, and by air drying, energy use is cut by 85 per cent. They’ve even started producing building blocks and tiles for low-income housing projects using waste materials. Current brands working with Saitex include Edwin, Gap, Paul Smith and Everlane.
Replay’s Hyperflex Bio line combines organic cotton, recycled fabric and recycled PET bottles for eco stretchREPLAY
American stalwart Wrangler has developed Indigood, a new dying process that uses foam to eliminate the need for water in the process, and has cut energy waste by 60 per cent. One example that has caught our eye is the Indigood Texas slim low, £75.
Wrangler are also starting to make jeans with a percentage of recycled yarn, something that Replay has also adopted with their Hyperflex Bio range which combines organic cotton, recycled fabric and recycled PET bottles for eco stretch.
Candiani’s N-Denim jeans are dyed using Kitotex, made from recycling shrimp shells, and so need 75 per cent less water and 65 per cent fewer chemicals
Like Replay, Italian manufacturer Candiani has been striving to find a less thirsty way to make jeans. Their N-Denim jeans start with certified organic cotton and are dyed using Kitotex, an innovation made from recycling shrimp shells from the food industry which, combined with Indigo Juice, another innovative method for achieving vintage/faded looking jeans without multiple washes, requires a claimed 75 per cent less water and 65 per cent fewer chemicals per pair of strides.
Candiani has also developed Coreva Denim, the first biodegradable naturally sourced stretch denim, derived from natural rubber. Our pick? Candiani’s Razor Biostretch Selvedge Denim, €340, features both N-Denim and Coreva.
Levi’s Red High Loose Taper jeans are made with cottonised hemp, which requires less water and fewer chemicals to grow than traditional cotton
And as for Levi’s, they’ve been collaborating with re:newcell to introduce a substance called Circulose into their manufacturing loop. This material is made in a similar way to recycling paper, but the resulting cotton fibre, created using old jeans offcuts, makes up 50 per cent of the new pair.
Levi’s also has a whole range of sustainable, water-saving, waste-reducing styles. All their women’s loose-fit jeans fall into this category, too. The 90s-inspired High Loose Taper (£110), for example, is made with the brand’s cottonised hemp, which requires less water and fewer chemicals to grow than cotton, plus the finished fabric is softer.
