The sustainable denim jeans brand Nudie Jeans was founded in Sweden in 2001 by fashion designer Maria Erixon. Its manufacturing process is environmentally friendly, made with 100% organic cotton. This was important from the moment it was decided to create Nudie Jeans, that its processes are sustainable beyond the creation and manufacture of the garment. The brand also produces "dry" jeans, made without the use of water in the production process. The jeans have been made with 100% organic cotton since 2012, which was one of the brand’s main goals since its inception. Nudie is famous for its attention to detail when it comes to fit and quality, and that extends to the impact of its jeans. The rivets are not galvanized, which means they were not treated with toxic finishes like conventional rivets. Nudie also works with TENCEL™ Lyocell as its main human-made cellulose-based fiber. Nudie Jeans is a denim brand that offers free denim repair services and sales of reused denim. Sustainability, both social and environmental, is at the core of the company, which can be seen in its work with living wages, sustainable fiber use, and supply chain transparency.
The dye they use is natural indigo, the real stuff that traditional denim is dyed with, and the dye water is filtered to the point where it is potable. The packaging is made from recycled material and the back patch is made from discarded leather from a shoe manufacturer in Italy. They use high gauge organic yarn. According to Eliina Brinkberg, the company’s Environmental Manager, Nudie Jeans is constantly exploring use of post-industrial waste as a recycled input for new denim fabric. Supply Chain Operations Following the strict sustainability policy of the firm, we can learn the process and route of the entire production chain. The concept of repairing the jeans is based on the premise that, although their product is made of high-quality organic cotton and is made with the greatest possible precision and care, the jeans inevitably end up breaking. The proposal of the Swedish firm is that instead of discarding them for new ones, Nudie takes them in to be repaired with the aim of not only giving greater durability to the clothes but also preserving a garment that can stand the test of time, as well as ever-changing trends. The company has been part of the Fair Wear Foundation, an independent, non-profit organization of textile trade organizations, trade unions, and NGOs, since 2009 and manufactures in vertically integrated facilities in Italy and Tunisia. Fair Wear Foundation verifies that member companies implement a Code of Labor Practices throughout their supply chain and verifies compliance through monitoring audits and remediation efforts.
Recycling Second-Quality Jeans in Tunisia Second-quality jeans are those that don’t always meet quality standards: the wash may be too dark, the stitching may not be quite right, or the cut may be uneven. They are usually sold at discount prices or simply thrown away. But Nudie Jeans, a world leader in sustainable fashion, is looking for ways to use second-quality jeans to maintain the highest quality of its products while reducing the environmental impact of the production process. Two companies in Tunisia are responsible for more than half of Nudie Jeans' production value. To develop more environmentally friendly production processes in Tunisia, Nudie Jeans has been working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as part of the EU-funded SwitchMed project. In December 2020, it began a two-phase pilot project to test the feasibility of recycling second-quality jeans into the fabric for new jeans in Tunisia. Brinkberg says that in the first phase, to be completed in May 2021, "eight thousand pairs of second-choice jeans are being used, along with virgin denim fabric, to create 20,000 meters of new fabric. From this new fabric, 15,000 pairs of new jeans will be created." Data from this initiative will enable UNIDO to assess the feasibility of recycling second-quality jeans into fibers for new denim fabrics at scale. Water scarcity has long been a challenge in Tunisia, but climate change, combined with rapid urbanization, has made the problem even more acute. With the demands of industry and agriculture putting enormous pressure on Tunisia's water resources, Nudie Jeans and UNIDO hope their project will show a way to do more with less.