Advance Denim’s Commitment to Sustainability and ‘Innovative’ Products
With a history rooted in sustainability, China’s Advance Denim is taking its sustainable advancements to the next level. Since its inception in 1987, the denim mill’s focus on sustainable innovation has led to multiple groundbreaking innovations, including BigBox Dyeing, which saves over 95 percent of the water needed to dye indigo.
Taking its sustainable and denim innovations one step further, Advance Denim created Air Lock. Air Lock is a patented three-layer construction with an outer layer of laser-friendly indigo modal and an inner layer of ultra-soft Tencel—all “sandwiched around a core layer of air that creates a soft stretchable performance denim.”
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“For the past 35 years, Advance Denim has been searching and innovating the future of denim. It is this constant boundary-breaking innovative spirit that has created over 40 patented technologies in the past two years alone,” said Mark Ix, director of North American marketing at Advance Denim. “Now, with Air Lock, we are taking our sustainable innovations to the next level. In fact, this groundbreaking innovation was honored as the best product at the Spring/Summer 25 ISPO Textrends competition.”
To increase its versatility, Advance Denim also released a full range of coated fabrics created in-house. The coated fabrics create a leather-like coating that is available in a matte or shiny finish—with a full range of “dark rich” shades—but most importantly, have maximum flexibility and coverage with a soft lightweight coating.
“Each innovation we create is made to solve existing problems of performance or sustainability to elevate and improve the denim process,” said Ix. “Advance Denim’s drive for innovation does not limit itself to revolutionary constructions and fiber technology. The constant drive to be the most sustainable mill possible is a core focus.”
Selvedge denim
In addition to sustainability, Advance Denim is committed to differentiated products that span from space-age innovations like Aerogel-infused denim to an array of selvedge styles created slowly on vintage shuttle looms—a vintage weaving machine used before modern projectile looms were invented—that celebrate the history of denim.
“It’s not only the minor purposeful imperfections that highlight the true appeal of selvedge denim, but at Advance Denim, we also add natural fibers, like hemp, that reveal coarse neps—small yarn imperfections that look like balls of yarn similar to pilling on a sweater—that peak through the twill line to add to the full craft-made aesthetic,” said Ix. “Additionally, the artistry of the Jacquard looms in the Shunde manufacturing facility offers endless design options for our customers under the same roof that houses our state-of-the-art big box dying. These specialty products created in-house set us apart from the competition. ”
Sustainable perspective
When tackling new innovations, Advance Denim looks at sustainability from two perspectives.
The first perspective is to review the whole manufacturing process and evaluate how to make each stage more sustainable while keeping the true indigo aesthetic. “This concentrated effort has created new machines that disrupt the traditional indigo dying process and create a cleaner indigo that uses less water and chemicals to create the same vintage washdown that designers and consumers know and love,” said Ix.
The second perspective is looking for the “most sustainable fibers.” According to Ix, Advance Denim continuously searches the globe for sustainable fibers to create its products. One of its recent findings is Good Earth Cotton, a climate-positive cotton created through modern regenerative farming practices proven to minimize the global environmental footprint of cotton farming.
“Sustainability is firmly rooted in the foundation of all products Advance Denim produces,” said Ix. “We will continue to use our history and creativity to produce sustainable denim.”
To learn more about Advance Denim Limited, click here.
