Levi’s & British Council to host exhibition to reimagine post-consumer denim

In London later this month, Levi’s will offer an exhibition and seminars on reinventing post-consumer denim in collaboration with the British Council’s Architecture Design and Fashion (ADF) program.

The cooperation is part of Levi’s digital residency with the British Council‘s ‘Making Matters’ program, and it comes after an open call for interdisciplinary designers from around Europe to demonstrate an innovative approach to circular design utilizing Levi’s denim offcuts.

Levi’s and ADF chose two collectives, Envisions from the Netherlands and Store from the United Kingdom, to showcase their work and collaborate on an exhibition at Levi’s Haus in London, the brand’s one-of-a-kind concept store dedicated to circularity, design, and heritage.

For the public display, Envision and Store will concentrate on three categories: blending fibers, linking fibers, and exploring yarns. Over 75 experiments will be on exhibit, using techniques including 3D printing, weaving, braiding, and generating novel materials like denim composites, denim fur, and denim paint made from indigo dye recovered from a pair of jeans.

Envisions said in a statement about the possibilities of denim that when it comes to post-consumer denim, the sky’s the limit. Denim is a well-known material; we all know it as the pair of jeans we have in our closets, but this exhibition will hopefully demonstrate the material’s versatility beyond garment design. From the beginning, they had the goal of creating material solutions that could expand beyond fashion, such as for interior spaces. They wanted to test the limits of this iconic material that they all know and love, and eventually inspire customers to consider circular design concepts.

The exhibition will be complemented by a series of free workshops offered by the Store, with the goal of teaching and motivating people to think about the whole lifetime of Levi’s denim, as well as other consumer items, through collaboration and creativity. Indigo wax crayon making, a denim fiber pulp after-school club, and basket making will be among the workshops.

Dennis Goebel, vice president of merchandising at Levi’s(R) North Europe said that at Levi’s, they believe in being a constructive force for change in their communities. Every day, they work hard to ensure that their principles are ingrained in everything they do, and what’s intriguing about this initiative is how it pulls so many of these values together to create something truly unique. The work they’ve done together, from intercultural collaboration to environmental activism to Envisions and Store’s sheer innovation and creativity, may not be a solution to the larger issues of sustainability, but they hope its optimism inspires further conversation and collaboration as they all look forward to a better future.

From April 20 to May 5, the Levi’s x British Council exhibition will be free to the public, with workshop reservations made exclusively through Levi’s 247 apps.