Jaime, Joanna & Arianne Engelberg

The New Denim Project

What’s your story?

Arianne: In 2014, my sister Joanna and I joined my father in rebuilding the family business. Together, we decided to refresh the vision and values behind the 60 year old textile company that our grandfather founded. We knew that if we were to remain competitive and relevant for another 60-plus years, we would need to rethink the business entirely and break with the linear patterns that have been guiding this industry for too long. We were determined to conceptualize the rebirth of our grandfather’s work. To redesign the way we source and dispose raw materials, adapting and improving the current mechanical processes that bring those materials to life; polishing and elevating sustainable textile production, product design, and development.

What are your values?

As creatives and industrialists, we must have a 360-degree vision and perspective of what is happening around us. We have created a system that puts out massive amounts of material, and creates vast amount of pollution, poverty and waste. Therefore we must create a parallel system that can recover and reprocess all material, create a thriving work environment (socially, culturally and environmentally) that will push for positive change, and ultimately replace the prior establishment.

Sustainability is the most sophisticated manifestation of design. It is the architecture of life and of all thriving species and systems on earth. Sustainability utilises bioinspiration, and contemplates the entirety of design—from the most microscopic component of an item to its final material and aesthetic; its lifecycle, level of utility, and its social, financial and environmental impact. Sustainable design, by its very nature, adds to the earth, rather than taking from it.

In this new era of design, real innovation seeks to replicate nature’s model of efficiency. If we want to seek sustainable solutions to the world’s same old problems, we must study natural organisms, life.

Just as all of life is interrelated—and just as every living thing on Earth contributes to the trajectory of every other living thing—players in the fashion industry must stop working in isolation. A sustainable future requires co-creation from different fields and mindsets. All elements in a shared economy belong together, and must strive for the preservation of the entire ecosystem. Our system is all about the search for this symmetry, and *a celebration of balance*.

What will we find at The New Denim Project?

At The New Denim Project (Iris Textiles) we specialize in woven fabrics from upcycled & circular fibres. Both from pre-consumer and post-consumer sources. Our eco-industrial manufacturing process is mechanical, making our operation chemical-free.

We have a cut & sew workshop as well, where we specialize in home linens - offering contract manufacturing and private label services mostly for home items - table linens, kitchen linens, bed linens, upholstery, bags and accessories.

Are you open to collaborations and custom projects?

We are indeed open to collaborations and have a selection of designers and creatives with whom we do custom work for every year.

In order to upcycle our own waste from our spinning operation, we collaborate with our coffee partners, Finca San Jeronimo Miramar (FSJM), an eco-diverse farm and paradise in Suchitepequez, Guatemala. The farm is a private nature reserve and a well-known research laboratory developing natural methods of growing coffee. FSJM collect the leftover cottonseed from our spinning process and, once composted, use it as natural fertiliser for their coffee and other crops. Together we work under a shared system, generating a circular economy where all discarded materials are eternally metabolised. (Instagram: @fincasanjeronimo)

As we envisioned our circular manufacturing process, we also envisioned our supply chain relationships becoming less linear. We have created an open connection between all contributors, opening new communication channels within the supply circle—farm, mills, studios, brands, clients, shops, students, agents, media and so on. It’s a new approach that permits the sharing of ideas, values, and understanding, so we can work as one.

Where can we learn more about you?

Website: www.thenewdenimproject.com | Instagram: @thenewdenimproject