“Collaboration between industry and academia allows for fresh perspectives”
Professor Kate Goldsworthy is the director of Future Denim Lab, an ambitious five-year initiative dedicated to advancing circular and regenerative denim.
I was thrilled to be invited to write this at the very beginning of an exciting new venture. The Future Denim Lab is a pioneering research and knowledge exchange initiative at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London), developed in partnership with the iconic denim brand Miss Sixty. With bold ambitions, the Lab will serve as a hub for experimentation, collaboration and innovation, bringing together students, researchers and industry partners to reimagine denim for a circular and regenerative future.
As director of the Lab, I aim to bring more than 20 years of experience and passion for sustainability to the heart of this project, exploring cutting-edge approaches to recycling, recovery and reuse, while integrating biotechnology and advanced manufacturing to transform the lifecycle of denim.
My first experience of the denim industry dates back to the late 1990s, when I worked as a designer specialising in denim finishes and trends. During those early years, I was continually inspired by the level of technological innovation that already existed within the denim sector, much of which had yet to appear in other areas of the fashion industry.
Recycling was already an established practice. One of our partners in Brazil, for example, routinely created bio-composite materials from denim waste directly on the production floor. At the same time, the industry was beginning to explore alternatives to harmful finishing processes such as sandblasting, experimenting instead with enzymes and laser finishing.
It was this technological side of the industry that later drew me back to academia. In 2005, I began a PhD exploring the potential of laser finishing as a circular and sustainable alternative for the wider textile industry. That project opened the door to the fascinating world of academic research and continues to motivate me today.
However, circularity is never achieved through a single product or material innovation. It can only emerge through consideration of the whole system. In the apparel industry, every product exists within a complex ecosystem of materials, supply chains, consumer behaviour, infrastructure and end-of-life realities, and denim is no exception. To meaningfully reduce waste and redesign impact, we must understand and design for that entire system.
One of the key challenges facing businesses today is how to move beyond incremental sustainability improvements by embracing systems-level creativity. When the full ecosystem of a product informs design decisions, new opportunities for innovation emerge, from material selection and manufacturing processes to resale, repair and regeneration models.
Collaboration between industry and academia is essential in enabling this kind of thinking. It allows for fresh perspectives and experimental approaches that can be difficult to pursue within the constraints of day-to-day business operations. By expanding the parameters of problem-solving to include the larger system, the combined creative capabilities of corporate teams and academic institutions can help unlock solutions to some of the apparel (and denim) industry’s most persistent challenges.
One of the most exciting aspects of the Future Denim Lab is its connection to the talented students at Central Saint Martins. Their curiosity, creativity and willingness to question established practices make them powerful contributors to innovation in sustainable design.
Two recent graduates illustrate the type of work the Lab hopes to support and amplify.
Infinity Blue, developed by MA Material Futures graduate Emily Gubbay (2025), proposes a circular colour system that recovers synthetic indigo from denim waste [see this issue’s Clocking On feature]. Using a natural extraction process free from harsh chemicals, the project transforms discarded denim into a sustainable source of indigo pigment.
Globally, around two million tonnes of denim are discarded each year, enough material to dye approximately five years’ worth of the industry’s denim production. By recovering pigment from this waste stream, Infinity Blue demonstrates the potential to replace the approximately 50,000 tonnes of synthetic indigo currently produced annually, significantly reducing the need for virgin dye production.
Working in collaboration with London-based denim brand Blackhorse Lane Ateliers, the project challenges us to rethink the value of what we discard and to imagine a future in which colour can be recovered, shared and reused. The process works with both pre- and post-consumer waste through a non-toxic extraction method that preserves fibre integrity. The recovered pigment can be used either as a textile dye or as a pigment within print formulations. Because the fibres remain undamaged, the method can also be applied as a finishing treatment to denim garments, creating bleaching effects while simultaneously recovering indigo pigment.
Another example is Lab to Loom by MA Biodesign graduate Lotte Plumb (2025), which reimagines denim through a bacterial production system. The project explores whether microorganisms could form the basis of an entirely new material system, one capable of using agricultural waste as feedstock while reducing land use and eliminating reliance on pesticides and toxic chemicals.
Through specialised techniques involving two strains of bacteria, the project produces both strong cellulose filaments and a deep blue pigment. After extensive experimentation, these components were combined to create an indigo-coloured cellulosic yarn, the foundation of a new form of ‘bacterial denim’.
In the studio, traditional garment-making techniques were adapted to spin and weave this yarn into fabric. The resulting material is derived entirely from bacterial processes, grown using agricultural waste and requiring minimal water, without the need for bleach or synthetic dyes. Even the small amount of waste produced during the process can be transformed into detailed buttons, demonstrating a fully integrated material system.
These projects represent just a glimpse of the creativity and ambition emerging from our students. Through the Future Denim Lab, many more undergraduate and postgraduate students from across disciplines will collaborate with researchers and industry partners, gaining invaluable experience while contributing fresh perspectives to the challenges facing the denim sector.
To further support this culture of innovation, the Lab will introduce two annual awards recognising outstanding student achievement in denim design and research.
Through these initiatives, the Future Denim Lab aims to inspire the next generation of designers to rethink material use, product lifecycles and business models, helping to shape a more sustainable and regenerative future for the industry.
Professor Kate Goldsworthy is director of the Miss Sixty ‘Future Denim Lab’ at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Her interest in sustainable design was ignited during her master’s degree in textile design, after which she spent ten years working in the denim industry in finishing design and research. In 2005 she came back to academia to undertake the first practice-based PhD focused on the emerging context of circular economy, and got bitten by the research bug. Over the last 20 years she has worked on ambitious research initiatives with a wide range of partners, including Blackhorse Lane Ateliers and Tonello’s creation of the UK’s first in-house denim laundry.
Photo: Kate Goldsworthy
