Denimolite

Denimolite – Up-cycled Fashion Waste, Architectural Interior Design Panels & Construction Materials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px21bI_Af6s

Here at Denimolite ltd, we are reducing the environmental impact of the clothing industry and fast fashion, by recycling unwanted garments and unusable manufacturing offcuts into an innovative, durable, and visually striking sustainable material, which we call, Denimolite!
Our material has a marble-like pattern and a pleasing tactile texture and made using a plant-based binding agent. The ingredients in our binding agent are co-products or waste sourced from other industries, which do not compete with food production and food-based agriculture. The plant-based ingredient percentage is amongst the highest in the industry with zero comprise on performance.
Through our partnership with ELV Denim, we repurpose their unusable off-cuts, diversifying their sustainable waste management practices. With 2 years dedicated to Denimolite R&D, including tooling and equipment development, our efforts received positive attention at Grand Designs Live 2023 in Birmingham, London 2024, Green Product Awards Berlin 2024, and Future + Area 30 Berlin 2024. Our composite material garnered significant interest, from the fashion industry, allowing garment manufacturers and clothing retailers to stylishly display their products whilst demonstrating to their customers that their waste is transformed into new materials instead of polluting the environment.
Denimolite was partly inspired by Structural Skin by Jorge Penadés, and by first-hand experience of reselling second-hand clothing. The world produces a shocking amount of unsellable clothing waste, in the UK alone: 2.16 million tonnes of waste denim is produced each year. At Denimolite, we set out to find a useful second life for fashion waste and prevent fashion waste from ever entering land fill and doing it with style.
We are gearing up to produce large sheet materials making our material more suitable for application in furniture and fittings such as tables, benches, or countertops in both commercial and residential spaces.

Our project Denimolite strongly aligns with the three Ps for sustainability: Planet, People, and Profit. For the Planet, Denimolite directly addresses the environmental impact of fashion waste by upcycling denim offcuts and unwanted garments into durable materials. Fast fashion and waste from second-hand clothing markets are exported to some of the poorest places in the world – such as Kanto Manto, Ghana: the site of the world’s largest second-hand clothing market. In Kanto Manto, they receive an estimated 15 million garments each week, a lot of which arrive with rips, tears, stains, or other imperfections meaning they hold zero resale value, ultimately, two-thirds of all clothing arriving in the town will be discarded on beaches or incinerated in open-air landfills, sadly the rate of clothing arriving in an unsellable condition is rising with the demand for more and more fast fashion in developed nations. Instead of sending these textiles to landfills or incinerators, we give them a second life in the form of eco-friendly, aesthetically unique materials for architectural interiors. The use of bio-based resins, sourced from non-competing, waste-based agricultural industries, further enhances the project’s sustainability by reducing reliance on petrochemical materials.
For People, Denimolite contributes to local communities by creating jobs in sustainable manufacturing and raising awareness about the importance of circular economy solutions, as well as employment opportunities for university students and graduates through our collaboration with the Robin Jones Creativity Labs at London South Bank University. Our partnerships, like the one with ELV Denim, allow us to integrate waste reduction into the supply chain, benefiting companies and communities by reducing their environmental footprint.
From a Profit perspective, Denimolite offers a commercially viable product that taps into the growing demand for sustainable materials in architecture and interior design. Our panels and construction materials provide an eco-friendly alternative to virgin materials such as marble, without compromising on durability or aesthetics, creating new revenue streams for manufacturers and retailers while promoting responsible consumption

#Sustainable #Fashion #Material

www.denimolite.com

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Traditional denim is made using 100% cotton, this type of fabric can be recycled relatively easily, through mechanical shredding, the fibres can be re-spun into yarn for weaving into new denim, however, today’s demand for comfort and flexibility has seen the rise in lower quality fast fashion garments, these ‘stretch’ denim garments are made from a combination of cotton and man-made fibres such as polyester, making the fabric much more difficult to recycle due to the blend of fibres. When these polycotton garments are incinerated in landfills they lead to the direct emission of CO2 gas, contributing to the greenhouse effect and climate change, furthermore, when these garments are dumped on beaches, ultimately, they are either captured by the tide or manually dragged out to sea, finally resting on the seabed where overtime they breakdown into the ecosystem, polluting the oceans with microplastics. Our approach to up-cycling denim can process all types of fabrics including the notoriously difficult to recycle – stretch denim, preventing these garments from entering waste streams and polluting the Earth.
Denimolite empowers nature by transforming waste into valuable resources using bio-based materials and recycled denim. By using offcuts and unsellable garments, Denimolite not only diverts fashion waste from landfills but also introduces a nature-positive alternative to conventional building materials. Our bio-resin, sourced from waste streams, avoids competition with food crops and contributes to reducing the environmental impact of fossil fuel-based resins.
This work strengthens nature’s regenerative cycles by creating a closed-loop system, where discarded textiles are repurposed into durable, useful materials for furniture and architecture. Denimolite demonstrates that waste materials can be transformed into high-value products, encouraging other industries to adopt similar sustainable practices. By integrating circular economy principles, we contribute to reducing resource extraction and minimising the overall environmental footprint of the design and construction industries.

Denimolite contributes to the regeneration and stabilisation of ecosystems by reducing textile waste and promoting sustainable resource use. By recycling post-consumer garments and manufacturing offcuts, we prevent significant volumes of waste from reaching landfills, where they contribute to pollution and environmental degradation. This reduction in waste lowers the strain on natural ecosystems that are typically impacted by textile disposal, such as soil contamination, emission of toxic gasses and CO2, and water pollution from synthetic fibres.
Our use of plant-based bio-resins further supports ecosystem regeneration, as these resins are sourced from waste streams in agriculture, avoiding reliance on virgin resources. Denimolite encourages other industries to follow suit, demonstrating how waste can be repurposed into valuable materials, reducing pressure on natural resources. The project’s focus on sustainability also raises awareness about the impact of fashion waste on ecosystems, fostering a broader cultural shift toward environmentally responsible consumption.

Denimolite makes complex bio-economy concepts accessible by translating the circular economy and sustainability into tangible, everyday products. Through our storytelling, we emphasise the journey of waste – from discarded denim garments to high-quality construction materials – in a way that resonates with consumers and industry professionals alike. We focus on engaging visuals and hands-on demonstrations at events such as Grand Designs Live, Green Grads and the Green Product Awards, making our mission relatable and easy to understand.
We also highlight the importance of sustainable innovation through partnerships with other businesses, such as E.L.V. Denim, showcasing how collaboration can drive environmental change. Our material’s unique aesthetic and tactile qualities further serve as conversation starters, drawing attention to the possibilities of upcycling and circular design. By transforming something as familiar as denim into a high-performance material, we create an emotional connection that helps people understand and appreciate the value of waste-to-resource processes. The story we convey to customers and encourage is that your old pair of jeans that have served you so faithfully at parties, weekend days, and family events, can be reborn again, carry the memories on as a striking durable material, catching your attention with its unique appearance and complex patterns, instead of being burned in a landfill half a world away.