Let’s make keeping denim for longer the new trend. Jeans were originally designed to be durable, so why are we so obsessed with distressed? asks Clare Press, as she interviews Levi’s vice president of sustainability Michael Kobori in the latest episode of Wardrobe Crisis podcast.
They’re still out there, those skinny black jeans with slashed knees. In blue too. And white, which is even worse, like noughties Liz Hurley tripped over the pavement. ASOS has got loads of them in all colours and all sizes, with all sorts of descriptions. Tempted by “busted knee jeans”, “seriously shredded rips”, or (please no) “light stone wash with bum rips”?
Cheap Monday has gone to the trouble of making theirs with recycled and organic cotton – then torn them in three destabilising places across the front leg. For commitmentphobes, Levi’s offer a pair with one ripped knee.
If you prefer DIY, there are videos on Youtube, though why you’d need one, I can’t fathom. Basically, it goes like this: take one perfectly good pair of jeans, grab some scissors, cut a slit across each knee… et voila, a completely ruined pair of jeans.
Michael Kobori talk all things sustainability at Levi’s on the Wardrobe Crisis podcast this week. Listen to the interview here.