Hiut Denim Co.'s Biodegradable Jeans

Fashion : Meet

23 March 2020

Is This The Future Of Denim?

Low-impact Welsh denim brand Hiut Denim Co. has collaborated with the Italian denim mill Candiani to create their first ever micro-plastic free, biodegradable stretch jeans. The jeans are produced in Cardigan in Wales, a town that as David Hieatt, the co-founder of Huit Denim Co., explains “used to have Britain's biggest jeans factory. So when it closed there were 400 world class makers that had nothing to make.”

Hieatt founded his company in 2012, with the ambition to bring the denim industry back to life in the town and it was this ethos and approach towards sustainable local production that instigated this new collaborative venture.

“A couple of years ago,” says Alberto Candiani, the current mill owner and great grandson of the founder of Candiani, “David Hieatt wrote [to us] explaining his vision of reviving a small town that once was intensely dedicated to jeans production. Everyone at Candiani could see similarities in the challenge that both companies faced producing in their hometowns, respectively in Cardigan and Robecchetto.”

“Candiani was established in 1938 in a small town in the heart of Italy's oldest nature reserve, Parco del Ticino. Being deeply rooted to this place has meant responsible production – care for the environment and the generation of families that have contributed to making us what we are today - has been a given, not a choice.”

“We are the last vertical denim mill in the western world,” he continues. “The denim business has moved towards the East and Far East where the players are battling on a completely different ground than us.”

“We do not compete on a price level, we only compete on a quality and innovation level. And innovation goes hand in hand with sustainability. The success of our mill is due to the fact that we have always been particularly good at making denim fabrics that were both beautiful and sustainable, never compromising one or the other."

The COREVA™ technology used in this limited edition collection took Candiani five years to develop. It replaces the synthetic and petrol-based elastomers normally used to create the give in stretch jeans with organic cotton wrapped around a natural rubber core and means that for the first time ever it is possible to craft 100% biodegradable stretch denim. For both businesses, there is a definite sense of the old meeting the new, of history and craftsmanship sitting alongside technology and innovation.

“The Coreva denim,” says Hieatt, “is made from a mix of organic cotton and natural rubber yarn. This means that not only does it contain no micro-plastics but it is 100% biodegradable. Left in the right conditions these jeans will go back where they come from, straight back into the earth.” They have even, says Hieatt, “used a cardboard-based vegan backpatch in place of a leather one to ensure that the jean is biodegradable.”

The new collection comprises 50 pairs of each of Huit Denim Co.’s classic styles: their Men’s Slim R and Women’s Neil Mom style, a slim-fitting high waisted jean.

Hiut Denim Co. x Candiani stretch jeans are available here.