Simply Be has become the first UK retailer to launch new jeans made from a blend of cotton and recycled bottles. The new range, its first performance denim range with Coolmax EcoMade technology, is made from 97 per cent recycled sources. Each pair of the special relaxed slim-leg jeans is created using cotton together with fibre made from recycled plastic equivalent to about 18 plastic bottles.
To make these jeans, plastic PET bottles are diverted from landfills, cleaned and ground into flakes and after a multi-step process, are transformed into yarn. This yarn is combined with cotton to make breathable denim with an authentic look and feel. The denim’s fibre structure is engineered to move moisture away from the skin to the surface of the fabric where it evaporates, creating jeans that help the wearer feel cool and dry and that can also be comfortably worn in the warmer summer weather, according to the manufacturer.
The technology behind the fabric involves the use of polyester fibres with engineered micro-channel cross-sections. The channels help move the moisture away from the body and the specially shaped cross sections also have a high surface area to spread the moisture out for faster evaporation.
