Developing a sustainable denim collection: views, aspirations & methods of ethical denim

Abstract

The article introduces the fundamental principles of sustainability in fashion and textiles and presents the critical factors of ethical denim by analyzing waste, water usage, chemical treatments, and recycling management. It introduces some of the latest literature and research dealing with these issues. It announces the aspirations of denim designers and their influence on fashion trends. It analyses some of the brands' developments and their implementation's global economic impact, social outcome, and environmental benefit. The article presents the latest innovative technologies applied in the denim industry over the last decade, analyzing the development in fabric composition, cotton/recycled cotton/organic cotton, and synthetic fibers. In this part, the most prominent literature and references available on this topic will be analyzed. The methodology of developing a sustainable denim collection is introduced in functional models. The method will be discussed on the example of developing sustainable designer brand and denim collection IKONIKA. The article presents the latest principles of developing a sustainable denim collection, compressively analyzing the innovative views, aspirations, methods, and technologies applied in the denim industry over the last decade. It introduces the model comprising some denim designers and brands' methodology, comparing them to the vision, technology, and form experiments used to develop an autonomous brand collection.