There has been a lot of recent discussion about companies addressing sustainability in fashion. Brands are playing their ethical part by re-thinking the way their garments are being produced; such as fair labour and good working environments. UK based brand, ‘Wool And The Gang’ have taken an innovative approach to ethical fashion, and are using up-cycling denim to produce a yarn. This yarn can then be used for DIY projects and garments.
Wool And The Gang‘s main brand focus is based around wool yarns and the art of knitting. They offer their advocates timeless woolen garments, as well as DIY tutorials on how to create things themselves. More recently, they have had a main focus on promoting and selling their ‘Billie Jean Yarn’ of which sold out (no surprises there!).
We have heard about clothing being re-used and recycled, but this project is different, in the sense that this yarn is made up of up-cycled denim, sourced from off-cuts and scraps that are left over during the pre-production stage. Just as any clothing production, there is A LOT of waste left on-site in factories. These scraps are collected and broken down into fibres, the fibres are then re-spun into the Billie Jean Yarn.
Image Sourced from WATG blog.
Wool And The Gang reached out to a South American company, expressing interest of a collaboration. It has been stated they chose this company because they had almost identical values. This was a perfect match as production companies focus’ solely around the areas of up-cycling denim and woven fabrics. Although the main focus is on the Billie Jean product, we aren’t looking away from the fact that the production of the yarn is also ethical. During production, it is ensured that there are no chemicals, and minimal water is used in the dyeing process.
The yarns are available in two colours, a ‘raw denim’ and ‘dirty denim’. As denim jeans are a clothing item known for their adaptability to be worn all the time, anywhere, and with anything, this also means we are constantly washing them, and keeping them clean- we hope. So just as your jeans wear down and fade with age, so does this yarn, throwing off an organic and rustic look.
Not only is FIB impressed with what people can create with these yarns, but it is also good to see a brand that is sticking to their focus; while still taking an innovative and fun approach to minimising the waste going into landfill.