G-Star RAW’s Most Sustainable Jean

good-design-award_best-in-class_rgb_blk_logo
  • 2019

  • Fashion

Designed By:

Commissioned By:

G-STAR RAW

Designed In:

Netherlands

G-Star RAW’s goal was simple: to create the most sustainable jean ever.


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  • CHALLENGE
  • SOLUTION
  • IMPACT
  • MORE
  • To create ‘the most sustainable jean ever’, G-Star RAW worked to achieve Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold G-Star RAW denim fabric, the most rigorous certification in the world, critical to the next industrial revolution already on the way. With GOLD in material reutilisation, renewable energy, carbon management, water stewardship, social fairness and PLATINUM in material health, we achieved the first ever overall GOLD Certification for denim fabric in the world.

  • Difficult to summarise in just 100 words, above and beyond meeting the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold certification, the Most Sustainable Jeans Ever also have: • NEW INDIGO WITH 70% LESS CHEMICALS AND NO SALTS • BUTTONS WITHOUT TOXIC CHEMICALS • WERE MADE IN SAFE & FAIR WORKING CONDITIONS • AIR DRIED SAVING 85% ENERGY • THE CLEANEST INDIGO DYEING PROCESS IN THE WORLD • ZERO WATER WASTE: 98% RECYCLED 2% EVAPORATES • HAVE RESPONSIBLY SOURCED LABELS • MADE WITH 100% ORGANIC COTTON • EACH GARMENT IS 98% RECYCLABLE • OPEN SOURCE DENIM FABRIC – PASSING ON KNOWLEDGE • MADE WITH SUSTAINABLE WASHING TECHNIQUES

  • For sustainability to succeed, each advance and innovation needs to be shared with the rest of the industry. That’s why we have made every part of our most sustainable denim fabric open source. If you go to the Fashion Positive Materials Library, you can see exactly what we did to create the world’s first Cradle to Cradle certified™ Gold G-Star denim fabric. By sharing this information, we’ve made it possible for every denim manufacturer in the world to follow G-Star in making denim fabric with zero risk for people and the planet.

  • G-Star RAW collaborated with DyStar and Artistic Milliners to create the cleanest indigo dyeing technology in the world, in which pre-reduced indigo is combined with a liquid based organic agent that replaces the conventional use of Sodium Hydrosulphite - a major problem in indigo dyeing. We pioneered perhaps the most radical change to the indigo dying process since its industrialisation. Here's what makes it so revolutionary: 70% less chemicals, 15% less indigo, no salts, no sulphate bi-products and 0 risks for the people and the planet. As a result, all that is produced from this indigo dyeing process is clean and water is reusable after dyeing. This also means no health risks for the people involved in the process, or for the water, atmosphere or soil around it. SUSTAINABLE DOWN TO THE SMALLEST ADD-ON Instead of leather we use yakron patches made from responsibly sourced paper and our tags are FSC certified. The buttons are eco-finished metal buttons that require no electroplating baths during production, eliminating acid and toxic chemicals. On top of all of this, we've also eliminated the individual poly bags from our own shipments and all our shipping boxes are made out of responsibly sourced paper.