Sustainable fashion: new denim from recycled second-quality jeans – made in Tunisia

January 19, 2022
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Under the EU-funded SwitchMed programme, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Swedish denim brand Nudie Jeans have since 2020 collaborated on a pilot project in Tunisia to demonstrate the viability of sourcing and reintroducing recycled textile fibers from second quality products into the fabrication of new jeans.

A recently published report outlines how the pilot project managed to repurpose 6,530 pairs of second quality jeans into 16,000 new pairs of jeans with a composition of 20% of recycled cotton.

Together with Nudie Jeans’ local suppliers, the collaboration with UNIDO could demonstrate the business case for high-value recycling of second quality jeans in the Tunisian textile and clothing value chain.

The SwitchMed initiative is funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Economy Division, the United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and its Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC). It aims at achieving productive, circular and sharing economies in the Mediterranean by changing the way goods and services are consumed and produced so that human development is decoupled from environmental degradation.

For more information

Press release

SwitchMed programme

Countries covered:

  • Tunisia