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Your Jeans Can Change the World

Your Jeans Can Change the World

One of the biggest issues of our time is environmental pollution from overconsumption.

When I originally started JEANBAG, I did so because rather than getting overwhelmed (which is easy in a world of seven billion), I thought, "How can I help? How can I help divert waste from landfill? How can I use my skills to do something good? How can I take a simple idea and create massive change?"

Alongside consuming less (which is the first step in reducing landfill), we need to start seeing waste products as the valuable resources they are.

One amazing piece of engineering that often ends up in landfill is the denim jean.

If you knew it takes almost a kilo of cotton, 10,000 litres of water, and countless hours of labour and skill to make a single pair of denim jeans, wouldn’t you want to make sure they never end up in landfill?

We sure wouldn’t. And, neither does JEANBAG, our Brisbane-based company transforming your old denim jeans into beautiful products for home and life.

JEANBAG wants to honour the labour, skill, time and resources that goes into making each and every pair of denim jeans. The water that helps grow the cotton seed, the pickers, dyers and weavers who bring the fabric to life and the designers, machinists and shippers who work hard to get our favourite pair of jeans to us in the first place.

Your jeans may have come to the end of their wearable life with you, yet they still have miles left in them.

Please make sure you pass your old jean on to friends or take them to your local Op Shop to be sold or given to someone who will really appreciate them.

You can find your closest Op Shop by searching on the RECYCLE LOCATIONS box on the bottom right of this page or go to RECYCLING LOCATIONS.


​Image: JEANBAG
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Artist, Designer & Maker
Science Notes
The fastest growing household waste in Australia is clothing.

On average we each throw out 30kg of clothing and textile items a year.

And while Australian charities receive around 22 tonnes of clothing waste per day, they estimate only 10-30% is of resell quality. The rest goes to textile recycling and eventually, landfill.
Related Tip
If your jeans are in great condition, first consider giving them to a friend, a charity organisation, or someone in need.

If they’ve come to the end of their wearable life, but the fabric is still usable, think about how you can upcycle them to better suit your needs, or give them to someone who can.