Advance Denim’s Blueprint for a More Sustainable Denim Industry, From Fabric Design to Manufacturing

For more than 35 years, China-based mill Advance Denim has been on a mission to revolutionize vintage denim styles through innovation.

This drive for advancement has led to over 40 patented technologies in just the past two years, with each innovation addressing performance and sustainability challenges while elevating the denim production process.

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Among these recent advancements is FitSense® Denim, a groundbreaking denim that allows designers to customize stretch levels in specific areas for optimal comfort and shaping. Combining advanced fiber technology, enhanced fabric construction and innovative garment finishing, it seamlessly integrates stretch and shaping zones, making them virtually invisible on the fabric’s surface, according to Mark Ix, director of North American marketing at Advance Denim.

Another development Advance Denim recently made is FreeCross Bi-Stretch, which allows denim to stretch in both the warp and weft yarns.

“Free Cross Bi-Stretch technology creates a truly vintage aesthetic,” said Ix. “With enhanced performances, it truly solves the inconsistencies of traditional bi-stretch fabrics.”

Sustainable growth

In keeping with its commitment to continuous improvement, Advance Denim also sets ambitious targets each year to enhance both sustainability and efficiency. The denim mill’s focus extends beyond cutting-edge innovations in denim to include creating a manufacturing system that is both efficient and sustainable.

A prime example of this is Bigbox dyeing, which dramatically reduces water usage by up to 95 percent by consolidating the traditional eight to 13 dyeing boxes into a single box.

Meanwhile, Advance Denim’s Blue Loop Indigo Recovery System, which is already implemented in China, utilizes membrane separation to remove unused indigo, resulting in clean water and reusable indigo with a 98 percent recovery rate for both. Scheduled for 2025 implementation at Advance Sico—a branch of Advance Denim based in Nha Trang Vietnam created to better serve its customers and diversify its manufacturing base—this system will significantly enhance the circularity of the dyeing process.

Beyond advancements in dyeing technology, Advance Denim is also pioneering innovations in production efficiency with its artificial intelligence (AI) inspection system.

Traditionally, denim inspection has relied on human eyes to detect fabric defects, a process prone to error, Ix noted. By training AI software with over 3 million images of denim, Advance Denim has become the first in the industry to achieve a fabric inspection accuracy rate exceeding 97 percent. This AI system will not only refine the inspection process within the mill but also, when integrated with AI systems at garment manufacturing partners, will further enhance speed and accuracy, potentially reducing the need for multiple inspections and limiting fabric waste.

“Advance Denim takes pride in leading the way in both fabric design and sustainable manufacturing,” Ix said. “By pushing the boundaries of what is possible, the company remains committed to becoming the highest quality and most sustainable denim mill.”

Learn more about Advance Denim Limited here.