Lee® Joins The Jeans Redesign Supporting Sustainable Fashion

As one of the world’s first denim brands, the Lee® brand recognizes its role in supporting sustainable innovation through its product design and manufacturing processes. With guidance from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation via The Jeans Redesign, Lee® stands committed to helping transform the way it produce jeans, tackling waste, pollution, and the use of harmful practices.

The Jeans Redesign Guidelines set out minimum requirements on garment durability, material health, recyclability and traceability. The guidelines are based on the principles of the circular economy and will work to ensure jeans last longer, can easily be recycled, and are made in a way that is better for the environment and the health of garment workers.

The Jeans Redesign – created through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative – brought together more than 40 denim experts from academia, brands, retailers, manufacturers, collectors, sorters and NGOs, to develop the Guidelines. Lee® is one of 16 brands participating in this effort, which also has been endorsed by the NGO’s Fashion Revolution and Textile Exchange.

“We’re excited to partner with the Jeans Redesign to help drive sustainable practices throughout the denim production process,” said Chris Waldeck, VP and Global Brand President, Lee®. “Together, we can help lead our industry toward a better, more sustainable future.”

The Guidelines build on existing efforts to improve jeans production, including the open source guide created following C&A and Fashion For Good’s joint initiative to develop C2C Gold Certified™ jeans. The Jeans Redesign will drive others to join the project and produce jeans in line with the Guidelines at scale.

Click here to learn more about The Jeans Redesign Guidelines