Honest Denim Straight Jeans

Cut and Sew: Roka Textiles, Turkey (GOTS, SEDEX)
Denim: Artistic Milliners, Pakistan
Organic cotton: Pakistan and Turkey (GOTS)
Elastane: Dupont
Pockets: Zares
Rivets: Eba

Certifications: These jeans are GOTS certified by Ecocert Greelife, Lic.No. 151833

KCA have worked with their Turkish denim manufacturing partner since 2018 and visit them on a regular basis. The factory where these jeans were cut and sewn has been independently certified by GOTS. To be GOTS certified, factories must have systems in place to ensure that social criteria based on the key norms of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are met.

KCA’s denim fabric is sourced from Artistic Milliners, who have social responsibility and a commitment to women's empowerment embedded in their company culture. One good example is the modern daycare centre for workers children which was set up after consultation from Catco Kids, a consultancy accredited by U.S. Department of Youth and Family Services and Department of Education. Also of note is that Artistic Milliners’ sales and marketing, supply chain, planning, sustainability and corporate communications departments are all headed up by women.

Denim production is a notoriously ‘dirty’ business. In order to get the indigo to stick to the cotton huge amounts of water and energy are used. Chemicals used to lighten the jeans can then create toxic wastewater.

Knowledge Cotton Apparel have partnered with leading pioneers in sustainable denim to keep the environmental impact of their denim to a minimum.

Denim supplier Artistic Milliners have pioneered a low impact process of indigo dying. In conventional indigo dying only 20% of indigo dyestuff can be reused due to salt formation. Artistic Milliners have found that by using an organic fixing agent that requires no salt and 70 percent less chemicals, it is possible to recover and reuse up to 100% of indigo dye. The process also does not require heating in the indigo fixation process, reducing energy consumption.

Knowledge Cotton Apparel’s jeans are finished using similarly impressive technology. This time it’s in Turkey, where the jeans are also cut and sewn. The jeans are loaded into a large ‘washing machine’ type piece of kit and some of the oxygen in the machine is cleverly converted to Ozone. Ozone is a highly reactive gas made up of three oxygen atoms. In this sealed environment the Ozone gas works on the indigo dye and removes it to achieve the shade of blue desired by KCA’s designers. The Ozone is then transformed back into oxygen and released safely into the environment.

This ‘Ozone Technology’ avoids the use of bleaches conventionally used to finish denim. The process uses less water and energy and crucially doesn’t create contaminated wastewater.