BLOG: The Clean Jeans Project

SOURCE Jeans was created with the mission to create the world's first chemical free, all-natural pair of blue jeans. For us, that means understanding at the deepest level what goes into the process of producing blue jeans. It means connecting with the materials every step of the way. And for the founder, that meant trying to do it ourselves.  

So we decided to try to make a pair of jeans, from start to finish, the old fashioned way. With organic cotton, fermented indigo dye baths, a table loom, and a lot of patience and determination. This is the story of the Clean Jeans Project.  

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8. Hand-woven denim

Check out our finished piece of handwoven denim. Beautiful blue, naturally dyed indigo yarns, and a luxurious drape that doesn't come from machine-woven denim. While this piece isn't going to necessarily feel like jeans, it sure is gorgeous. 
7. Taking the denim off the loom

After months of running the shuttle back and forth, we've finally finished our five yards of handwoven denim. Take a look at the results as we take the piece off the loom. 

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6. Weaving denim twill on a table loom

We go step by step to show you how to weave a 3x1 twill on a four harness table loom. The loom is warped with hand-dyed indigo yarns, and the weft is organic cotton natural tone yarn. Turns out, it's pretty monotonous, once you get the hang of it. Just be careful not to break any of the warp yarns!

Making our own string heddles. 
5. Warping the organic cotton yarns on the loom
4. Winding the indigo warp yarns
organic indigo cotton yarn balls
Untangling our indigo yarn
Oops, tangling our indigo yarn hanks
3. Dyeing with fermented indigo baths in Portland
2. Winding and tying the cotton yarn into hanks
1. Finding the right organic cotton yarn