Stella McCartney's Biodegradable Denim

Stella McCartney breaks the sustainability mold….again! Her dedication to sustainability has been shown over and over again.  This time around Stella McCartney put her energy into making her sustainable denim, well...more sustainable.

Later this year, Stella McCartney will be launching a biodegradable denim line! The time of launch is expected to be May, 2020. The denim collection is the result of a partnership between Stella McCartney and the brand Candiani, who is a denim manufacturer in Italy.  The biodegradable denim launch will consist of 10 different styles.

Denim manufacturer Candiani is renowned for their sustainable components. They have been heavily investing in sustainability as the owner has very strong beliefs in environmental concerns.  The Candiani mill was the recipient of the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award last year for a denim that was made using Refibra and recycled fibers.

If you are confused because you thought Stella McCartney already offered a sustainable denim line, you aren’t crazy. She does. The Stella McCartney denim assortment currently uses 100% organic cotton, but the process itself is quite taxing on the environment.  The current denim line uses a tremendous amount of water and the process involved chemical and toxic dyes.

The denim is made with all organic, yarns made out of plants which are then wrapped around a natural rubber.  There is no plastic or microplastics in the sustainable collection. The Candiani Mill has replaced synthetic and petrol-based elastomers with a component that they developed which allows stretch and is biodegradable. In addition, the denim in the biodegradable collection will use dyes that are much less impactful on the environment.  Candiani is using Kitotex Vegetal to dye the denim, which is a biodegradable outcome of food waste, mixed with Indigo juice.

Stella McCartney is constantly improving what she does.  Stella McCartney influences many major brands and also consumer shopping demands.  When organic cotton denim was released by Stella McCartney, everyone noticed. It was a step in the right direction and Stella will never stop there.  The brand always seeks to create the most innovative products possible.

In the collection Stella McCartney most recently released, many of the pieces were made using sustainable viscose, recycled nylon, organic cotton and vegan leather.  Stella McCartney also recently launched a collection with Adidas that uses 100% recycled polyester for their parkas and recycled ocean plastic for the sneaker collaboration.

Hopefully Stella McCartney will continue to work with Candiani.  It brings hope to the denim industry when you read about Candiani’s owner Alberto Candiani.  In his own words, “In a world where resources are diminishing and landfills are overflowing with discarded garments, it’s our duty to look for renewable resources, in addition to biodegradable and compostable material.” Hallelujah!