AKSU Denim Recylcling Initiative

We work with 20 women in Aksu, a small village in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, who remove seams, labels, and metals from old jeans. After the jeans are stripped of accessories, they are sent to Gaziantep, Turkey for shredding. The shredded pieces of fibers are spun into yarns to be used in making recycled fabrics. Post consumer recycling is a very complicated process as you need access to large amounts of used jeans. In order to make this work, we collaborate with brands on a project by project basis. Levi's sent us post-consumer jeans to be recycled yielding 4 new fabrics with 20% recycled fiber. 2 of the fabrics also use recycled polyester to add strength. We showcased the initiative in Paris at Denim by Premiere Vision. 

About Orta Anadolu

Founded in 1953, Orta transformed from a spinning & weaving company to a denim manufacturer in 1985. Today, Orta produces over 60 million meters of denim in its Turkey and Bahrain factories.

Transparency, commitment and trustworthiness are the key elements of Orta’s philosophy. This has echoed throughout the years, like 3D:Denim, Dream, Design event in 2007, when Orta brought local denim manufacturers together with international denim brands in Istanbul. In 2009, Orta used 3% of organic cotton in its production without quoting an extra cost. Currently, Orta uses 5% better cotton in all its production. Visit our website