Sustainable jeans on display in Genoa, from the 'ingredients' to the final garment

Historic brands, new generations and the supply chain united in respect of the environment

GENOA – Jeans means tradition, but it can also mean responsible innovation.Or, at least, this is the main objective he has set himself GenoaJeans, the event promoted by the Municipality of Genoa to celebrate one of the best-known fabrics in history, in the city that gave it birththe.The ambition is to restore to the city its role as the home of jeans and a leader in responsible textile innovation.In short, Genoa wants to promote itself as a hub for new generation jeans, with a view to responsible innovation and transformation in the name of sustainability.Sustainability, after all, is the mantra of the new generations, but even the historic brands of the past cannot fail to take it into account in their production chain.

It is Alberto Candiani himself who states that "in a world where resources are reducing and landfills are overflowing with discarded clothes, we must look for renewable resources, as well as biodegradable and compostable materials".As, GenovaJeans tried to express the theme of sustainability in three different ways and three different locations.Let's start with the sustainability introduced into the production processes by the most famous brands, the so-called heritage brands, exhibited at the university library, which indeed have a history, but which are standing out for good sustainability practices.Then, there is the sector of emerging producers, exposed at Metelino, who start from eco-design models, having sustainability as their horizon right from the start of their journey, keeping in mind at every moment of production the impacts that each of their decisions can behave.

 “The area of ​​new designers that we have set up at Metelino speaks volumes new technologies: fromupcycling -which is not just taking something that has been thrown away and putting it back, but means getting to know what man has defined as waste and reevaluating it through design, arriving at truly interesting collections - rent and swap", he explains Giusy Bettoni, founder and ceo of C.l.a.s.s., the international ecohub of innovative and green materials in the sustainable fashion sector, partner of GenovaJeans.

WORK TOGETHER

For Bettoni, "the most beautiful thing that has arrived in Genoa thanks to these designers is the collaboration". Collaboration between brands, but also between designers and suppliers of "ingredients" with which an item of denim clothing is produced:“Because we cannot ignore the entire supply chain - Bettoni remarks - it is not that the garment is born like this, but it is the result of choices in terms of yarn, fabric, who produces, who does the dyeing, who does the finishing .And these new generations know very well how to use these precious things."

THE ECO-SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN

And, here, then, the third exhibition area, the one dedicated to eco-sustainable supply chain, at the former oratory of San Tommaso.“All three proposals have a simple objective - underlines Giusy Bettoni - to demonstrate that the expressions of creativity, innovation and responsibility are truly many and are already available to the final consumer.But we need to communicate them.If we have new generation materials, if we have new generation technologies, we need new generation communication that doesn't just talk about color or composition, but also tells us where a garment comes from, who made it and how it has been done and you encounter the positivity of an industry, especially an Italian one, which has already made these choices".

Of course, continues the CEO of C.l.a.s.s., "we must not forget that we do fashion and, therefore, we want beautiful things, but the most beautiful thing is the value that is conveyed through GenovaJeans is truly a new generation of way of doing business, but also of designing the garments we wear every day".

In short, for Bettoni, “Genoa wrote a page of history with the invention of this fabric and with GenovaJeans we are back in this city, not by chance, because it is time to take this great legacy of history and bring it into the future.From here a message must start that says:jeans are an iconic item that everyone has, but now we want to start talking about jeans of the present and the future that have characteristics that align with the values ​​of the new generation, that tell us about something that is very beautiful, because we buy with our eyes, innovative, because we live in our reality, and responsible.We want to promote the concept of innovating responsibly because an innovation that impacts people, animals, oceans and the environment is not true innovation.And at GenovaJeans we brought many concrete examples to talk about these things."