Huge Idea: Orta and Long John Unveil ‘Biggest Sustainable Jeans’
Size 133×130 jeans greeted attendees last week at Munich-based trade show Bluezone.
Called “The Biggest Sustainable Jeans,” the soaring showpiece is the result of a collaboration between Turkish denim mill Orta and Wouter Munnichs, founder of Long John. Made with approximately 27 yards of sustainable Orta fabric, the towering jeans are both a nod to denim’s past and future.
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Munnichs said the idea to build the “biggest sustainable jeans” came from the larger-than-life displays the “big three” American brands Levi’s, Wrangler and Lee made to promote their products beginning in the 1920s. The old-timey ads were used to showcase jeans brands in an unmissable way to retailers and consumers at events like rodeos.
One such advertisement, a 12-foot-tall Levi’s display ad from the 1940s, sold at auction last week for $15,600.
In a sea of blue fabrics, the giant jeans had the same effect at Bluezone. Attendees took photos and videos with the jeans. Some climbed under the cuffed legs.
“We wanted to make something that really stands out, something that you can miss at the show. That’s always the hardest part when you are exhibiting somewhere,” said Neslihan Sebla Önder, Orta’s sustainability and marketing manager.
Despite the jeans’ historical inspiration, Orta used future-led technologies to make it, Önder said.
It is made with 4853A, Orta’s new sustainable denim in a gray-blue indigo shade called Steel Blue. The rigid 2×1 Z twill denim fabric weighs 10.6 oz. and is made with 80 percent cotton and 20 percent post-consumer recycled cotton—both sourced from Turkey.
The jeans’ design underscores the enduring relevance of durable workwear, however. The pant is modeled after miner’s jeans from the 1850 Gold Rush in California. Just like the original, the pants feature a single back pocket, a cinch back, suspender buttons on the waistband and a crotch rivet on the front by trims manufacturer YKK.
The mill also made a life-size version of the jeans to show brands how they can apply the design to their next collections.
Önder, and Munnichs said they don’t plan to let the jeans go to waste. After traveling to other industry events, it will be upcycled into new products. They added that next time, they’ll get the Guinness World Records invovled.
