Fashioncast®

Episode #36, October 14, 2021

Sustainable Fashion Part I, Alex Penades, Jeanologia’s Denim Revolution

Full disclosure--Fashioncast® loves Jeanologia!  In the annals of fashion, few companies have had such a positive impact on the industry and the environment as Jeanologia.  In the first of a four-part sustainable fashion series, Alex Penades, Brand Director North America Jeanologia, a proven leader in the global effort to drive sustainable fashion, joins the podcast to detail the company’s history, process, and extraordinary growth.

Given Jeanologia’s progress over the past 27 years, it’s little wonder Penades is so passionate about the mission of the company and the direction of the industry.  Incorporating Mission Zero, an initiative to eliminate all hazardous chemicals and water from the life process of jeans,  Jeanologia’s technology now accounts for 1.75 billion jeans produced annually, a third of all jean production.

While Jeanologia has made substantial progress in its “eco-war on denim,” notably in H2O reduction in the manufacturing process (one glass per pair of jeans), its culture serves as a model for the industry as well.  Jeanologia exemplifies growth objectives based on an important global environmental mission, and Alex Penades has been a key part of that success for the past nine years.

However, not everybody in the denim industry has adopted the Jeanologia way…yet.  After all, this is the fashion industry, where change, even for the right reasons, isn’t always embraced.  Nevertheless, in the ever-ubiquitous world of denim manufacturing, where five billion pairs of jeans are produced annually, it’s refreshing to know the drive for change is coming from the inside out.

It’s fascinating to hear Penades speak about the serious environmental challenges of denim manufacturing, the company’s cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, and plans to gain global industry consensus in the stewardship of the planet.  Indeed, Jeanologia provides much more than answers to sustainable denim manufacturing--it provides leadership.

Lastly, Penades covers a broad array of questions from how some countries obsess over denim and others do not, to how Jeanologia would assist a hypothetical designer launching an organic jean company.  In the sustainable fashion movement, Jeanologia and its apostle, Alex Penades, are just what the planet ordered.  Enjoy!

www.jeanologia.com

@jeanologia

#MISSIONZERO