Fabric: Jeans

Jeans fabric

Blue jeans patch: 

Sourced from almost discarded jeans that the designer had. These holes are tattered due to use, unlike some artificially distressed jeans.  

Grey jeans patch: 

Donated by a person in NSW as a response to the designer's advertisement on the social media site. 

The lady who donated this fabric was so kind, that she did not charge for the postage. 

Distress jeans and effects on people and the environment

Due to several chemical-intensive washes to achieve the distressed look, research by Greenpeace found that the outflow near denim dyeing and finishing facilities in Asia had five heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead and copper) in 17 out of 21 water and sediment samples taken. Another research also found that there were heavy metals in the rivers. These chemicals are transported to other parts of the world when the jeans are distributed. Since workers need to handle jeans with chemicals on them, there are significant effects on worker’s health as well.

Read more about the environmental and human cost of making a pair of jeans 

'Shame & Love - A story of fabrics -'

2020 S/S

Inspired by Boro

(traditional Japanese textile using tattered rags)

Designed, patterned & manufactured by

Yoshie Shimizu Beetham

for

Major design: 'Waste not want not'

BA of Fashion Design

(YR2 SEM2)