Candiani Creates First Biodegradable Stretch Denim - WWD

Blue jeans are continuing to get a little more green. Italian family-owned sustainable denim mill Candiani said today that it has launched the world’s first biodegradable stretch denim, made from its patented Coreva Stretch Technology, a new natural, rubber fiber. Its “bio-stretch” selvage denim was created in partnership with Dutch denim-maker Denham.

Part of its “Life Is Movement” collection — which offers low-impact denim — the styles are available exclusively at Denham’s stores and web site. Candiani said the collection “[marks] a new era of performance denim made from bio-based materials and renewable resources.”

The new biodegradable stretch selvage denim was created using plant-based yarns and is entirely free from plastics and micro-plastics, due to Coreva, which replaces commonly used synthetics and petrol-based elastomers without compromising elasticity, recovery and durability, the firm said. Candiani’s Coreva integrates organic cotton that is wrapped around its natural rubber fiber; and by replacing traditional synthetics with its custom-engineered component, the stretch denim fabric is both biodegradable and high performing in elasticity and recovery.

Photo courtesy of Candiani Denim. 

Interestingly, Alberto Candiani, fourth-generation son and owner of the Candiani family mill, was inspired to create Coreva Stretch Technology while on a shopping trip for salami cold-cuts in his local delicatessen in Milan, when he had the idea to create a new, natural rubber yarn. Candiani said, “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 materials. Denim has to take the lead as the indigo flag of this revolution. We are not doing this because there is a demand, but because it’s the right thing to do.”

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