To develop greener production processes in Tunisia, the denim brand Nudie Jeans is collaborating with the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as part of the EU-funded SwitchMed/MED TEST III project to demonstrate the potential for recycling post-industrial waste in jeans production.

Nudie Jeans, a global leader in sustainable fashion, is looking at ways to make use of second-quality jeans (those that don’t quite meet the quality standards) to maintain the highest quality of its products, while reducing the environmental impact of the production process.

In December 2020, a two-phase pilot project began to test the feasibility of recycling second-quality jeans into fabric for new jeans in Tunisia. Eliina Brinkberg, the Swedish company’s environmental manager, says that in the first phase, to be completed by May 2021, “eight thousand pairs of second-choice jeans are being used, together with virgin denim fabric, to create 20,000 metres of new fabric. From this new fabric, 15,000 pairs of new jeans will be created.”

The data from this initiative will enable UNIDO to assess the feasibility of recycling second- quality jeans into fibres for new denim fabric at scale.

A second phase will focus on developing an upcycling and remanufacturing scheme with local designers in Tunisia and will explore the possibilities for recycling post-industrial cutting waste from jeans production.

The SwitchMed sustainable consumption and production programme aims to promote a switch by the Mediterranean economies towards sustainable consumption and production patterns and green economy, including low-emission development, through demonstration and dissemination of methods that improve resource and energy efficiency. It also seeks to minimise the environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of products and services and, where possible, to promote renewable energy.

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