Lenzing, Core Denim and Unifi have launched a new denim. This is Future Black, the industry’s first certified fade-resistant black denim made using Lenzing Modal black fibers and Repreve black recycled fibers.

As many as 17 recycled plastic bottles go into making Future Black jeans—which also happen to boast superior softness, color retention and stretch—all the while leaving a smaller footprint on the environment. To prevent denim from fading, Future Black with Lenzing Modal black fibers uses an innovating dope dyeing technique that adds pigment during production so that the entire body of the fiber gets colored instead of just the surface, and there’s no need for a dye bath down the line.

In testing, Future Black denim showed no signs of color loss after more than 20 washes. Adding a recycled element to further expand the product’s sustainability, Repreve yarns mean plastic bottles that would have landed in landfills make their way instead into a pair of jeans. The Lenzing Modal Black fibers has a 50 per cent to 60 per cent less harmful impact on the environment than conventionally dyed fabric does because the manufacturing process uses less chemicals, fewer energy inputs and uses 64 per cent less water during the dyeing process.