Recycled denim: a breakthrough?

Post by OldHunter69X » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 6:07 PM UTC

AlgorithmicTime wrote: post #14

twobitshifter wrote: post #6

Reduce - buy jeans that last a lifetime. Reuse - buy your jeans from a thrift store. Recycle - this? So it’s the last choice, but most clothes today just end up in the trash, since durability is fairly awful. Even after one wash some clothes start to lose their shape and color. What will the durability of recycled clothes look like if the recycling inputs are so poor? Will people pay any less for these clothes? I won…

I don't think it's realistic for you to expect your jeans to last a lifetime. I buy decent jeans once a year. The new pair is for daily wear. The old pair is retired for manual labor. The old-old pair is retired to when I crawl under the house.

Post by Semaphor » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 6:36 PM UTC

AlgorithmicTime wrote: post #14

twobitshifter wrote: post #6

Reduce - buy jeans that last a lifetime. Reuse - buy your jeans from a thrift store. Recycle - this? So it’s the last choice, but most clothes today just end up in the trash, since durability is fairly awful. Even after one wash some clothes start to lose their shape and color. What will the durability of recycled clothes look like if the recycling inputs are so poor? Will people pay any less for these clothes? I won…

I don't think it's realistic for you to expect your jeans to last a lifetime. I buy decent jeans once a year. The new pair is for daily wear. The old pair is retired for manual labor. The old-old pair is retired to when I crawl under the house.

Post by FalconSensei » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 6:41 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #7

BenoitP wrote: post #2

One thing sustainability, fashion and denim: we could start by not artificially preusing it. Also: is it me or about 20 years ago a pair of jeans lasted way longer than they currently do? Maybe thinner materials were introduced for softness?

About ten years ago was the first time I owned a pair of jeans that I was cold in. Unfortunately they were Patagonia, which makes no goddamn sense. And yet here we are. Recently they flip flopped and Patagonia has the heaviest jeans I’ve ever seen. To rival Carhart. But they’re also a weird blend of cellulose derived fiber and recycled plastic. Not a fan of the plastic, recycled or no it’s going out my dryer vent.

Post by Arubis » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 6:43 PM UTC

AlgorithmicTime wrote: post #14

twobitshifter wrote: post #6

Reduce - buy jeans that last a lifetime. Reuse - buy your jeans from a thrift store. Recycle - this? So it’s the last choice, but most clothes today just end up in the trash, since durability is fairly awful. Even after one wash some clothes start to lose their shape and color. What will the durability of recycled clothes look like if the recycling inputs are so poor? Will people pay any less for these clothes? I won…

I don't think it's realistic for you to expect your jeans to last a lifetime. I buy decent jeans once a year. The new pair is for daily wear. The old pair is retired for manual labor. The old-old pair is retired to when I crawl under the house.

Post by rcarr » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 6:47 PM UTC

kitsunesoba wrote: post #16

rcarr wrote: post #12

I've completely stopped wearing cotton. Everything I wear is now polyester and elastane. Socks, underwear, trousers, boots, t-shirts, mid-layers, jackets, hats - all of it. I know this has it's own issues with micro plastics but the clothes are way comfier, take up less space, are less prone to stains, are quicker to dry, hold heat when wet and are more durable to boot. Personally I think it's the way forward.

Interesting, I've done almost the exact opposite. The only article that I still buy synthetics for is underwear because the synthetic blends for those are very well tuned, but for things like shirts polyester tends to irritate my skin more easily, accumulates static electricity (and thus track cat fuzz) like crazy, gets uncomfortable when it's warm out, and pills badly after a few washes. For all that cotton works wa…