Madewell's recycled denim
Madewell has launched a recycled‑denim initiative that uses material reclaimed from 20,000 old jeans to produce new denim pieces. (x.com) The move was highlighted alongside other sustainability and circular‑fashion efforts in recent fashion coverage. (x.com)
Madewell has launched a new denim capsule made with recycled material recovered from about 20,000 old pairs of jeans. (wwd.com) The collection went on sale April 9 as the Madewell x Re&Up x Isko line, with three online-exclusive styles priced at $158 each. The jeans use fabrics containing recycled cotton from pairs collected through Madewell’s Denim Trade Up program. (wwd.com) Re&Up said it processed roughly 20,000 post-consumer jeans from Madewell’s take-back stream, then turned that feedstock into new cotton and polyester fibers for Isko to weave into Global Recycled Standard-certified fabrics. (reandup.com) Madewell has run its denim trade-in program for more than a decade, and the company says it has collected more than 2.3 million preloved pieces so far. Customers can bring in jeans from any brand and get $20 off a new pair. (madewell.com) Most take-back programs sort used clothes into resale, insulation or lower-value reuse. This project keeps some of that old denim in apparel by turning worn jeans back into fabric for new jeans. (reandup.com) That is a harder manufacturing job than it sounds because old jeans arrive with different fiber blends, stretch content, metal hardware and wear patterns. Re&Up said its process is designed to handle mixed poly-cotton denim and produce fibers that still meet stretch and durability requirements. (reandup.com) The three finished styles are not identical in makeup: one is 75 percent recycled cotton and 25 percent viscose, while the other two add small amounts of recycled polyester and elastane for stretch. (wwd.com) Madewell’s wider system still sends many non-resellable jeans to other outlets, including housing insulation through Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green program and resale through Madewell Forever, which is powered by ThredUp. (madewell.com, madewellforever.thredup.com) This capsule does not replace that broader pipeline. It gives Madewell a small commercial test of whether jeans returned by customers can come back as jeans again. (wwd.com, reandup.com)
