Despite a pandemic wreaking havoc on business, the global denim industry is plotting its circular future. In the past year, industry players have introduced biodegradable stretch jeans, Cradle to Cradle certified platinum denim fabrics, jeans made entirely of recycled content and jeans that can be traced back to the cotton farm.

Denim brands are even going a step beyond to urge consumers to buy less, or at least fewer garments. While smaller brands such as Nudie and Mud have carried on that mindset as part of their overall brand ethos, denim giants like Levi’s are following suit, illustrating that even the biggest companies are willing to become advocates for secondhand apparel.

One such organization, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is pushing new circularity guidelines with its  Jeans Redesign initiative, and already signed up 60 brands to produce circular jeans this fall.

But there’s still much work to be done to achieve true denim circularity, especially as textile waste continues to surge in the U.S. and many brands think it’s too much of a quality tradeoff to switch from virgin inputs to either circular or recycled inputs.

In the Round, a new report from Rivet, sponsored by Artistic Milliners, Bossa, Calik Denim, Crescent Bahuman Limited, Denim Clothing Co., Isko, Orta Anadolu and Siddiqsons, shares insights from leading denim manufacturers on how they continue to initiate change throughout the industry through investments in new circular technologies.

Download the report to learn:

• Eight sustainable and stylish brands to watch beyond 2020
• A by-the-numbers breakdown of sustainable fashion in 2020
• Case studies from “circular catalysts” within the industry including HNST, Wrangler, Reformation and others
• The environmental cost of New York Fashion Week
• How consumer bias and sorting issues remain two variables holding circularity back