G-Star’s EarthColors collection, Traceable From Earth To Product

This season G-Star innovates with Archroma, to introduce Earth Colour – a series of naturally-dyed jeans, colours with traceable dyestuff derived from recycled plants and nutshells.

It is no secret that the textile industry is the world’s second-largest polluter of water. Today’s textile mills are responsible for dumping chemical-laden, used dye water into oceans and streams leading to unnecessary Eco destruction. It is because of this that many brands are starting to adopt new radical approaches when it comes to putting their garments through the dying process. One of these brands is G-Star. Wanting to push the limits of product-design, they have partnered up with Archroma, the global leader in the textile industry, specialising in colour solutions while respecting the planet. It is a partnership that has led to the denim company launching a series of naturally-dyed jeans, coloured with traceable dyestuff derived from recycled plants and nutshells.

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G-Star on Respecting The Planet

When it comes to dying, it is good to note that there are two types of dye; natural and synthetic. Natural colours are derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood—and other organic sources such as fungi and lichens. Synthetic dyes are man-made. These dyes are made from artificial resources such as petroleum by-products and earth minerals. The use of natural dyes over synthetic dyes is encouraged, but the hard truth is that the fashion industry still uses a lot of artificial dyes.

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One of the main reasons being that the natural dyes seem to lack the vibrancy of synthetic dyes. Cotton is the easiest fabric for natural dyes to adhere to, but unfortunately, not all of our clothes are made of cotton, the majority of garments are made from polyester which is made from petroleum. The manufacturing of polyester and other synthetic fabrics is an energy-intensive process requiring large amounts of crude oil. It is this process that releases emissions, including volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases such as hydrogen chloride, all of which can cause or aggravate respiratory disease.

“As denim innovators, we’re always striving to challenge conventions – both regarding style and future-proof processes.”

On a mission to do good, G-Star’s EarthColors collection takes a fresh and sustainable approach to dying. Their mission is to lead the industry by example and so far the result has been that they now have an array of coloured jeans, dyed with recycled agricultural waste. “As denim innovators, we’re always striving to challenge conventions – both regarding style and future-proof processes. The introduction of EarthColors into G-Star’s jeans’ collection represents a fruitful collaboration with Archroma and the embodiment of our sustainable mindset which guides our product design from start to finish,” shared Frouke Bruinsma, Corporate Responsibility Director G-Star RAW.

G-Star

The thing I find impressive about their collection thing is that it is traceable from earth to a product. This is because EarthColors by Archroma is made from 70 to 100% natural colours coming from different types of recycled plants, such as olives, rosemary, and non-edible nutshells, almonds, among others. No land is required to grow EarthColors and only inedible parts are used, leaving the rest of the product available for food consumption. Dyes are designed for optimal performance with ozone and laser finishing technologies.

The G-Star collection EarthColors is available in 5620 Staq mid skinny for women and in 5620 3D super slim for men. Priced £125.00, you can shop the collection now.

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Founding editor-in-chief of FashNerd.com, Muchaneta is currently one of the leading influencers writing about the merger of fashion with technology and wearable technology. She has also given talks at Premiere Vision, Munich Fabric Start and Pure London, to name a few. Besides working as a fashion innovation consultant for various fashion companies like LVMH Atelier, Muchaneta has also contributed to Vogue Business, is a senior contributor at The Interline and an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion, UAL.