There are two new jeans on the market that are actually four old jeans.

Introducing Display Copy x E.L.V. DENIM’s The Contrast Boyfriend and The Contrast Flare.

“When we started, I said we’re only doing the straight leg in the contrast. It will never work in flare or boyfriend. That would be a disaster.” Anna Foster is talking about E.L.V. DENIM – her impossibly cool line of sustainable denim that recycles post-consumer waste by stitching together multiple pairs of vintage jeans to create made-to-measure one-of-a-kind pants. The London-based brand produces three iconic cuts (The Straight, The Flare, and The Boyfriend) in two colorways (match and contrast).

Until now, the contrast (a hybrid of two pairs of contrasting washes) was only available in The Straight Leg. This week, E.L.V. DENIM and Display Copy collaborated to launch The Boyfriend and The Flare in contrast. Turns out, this “disaster” looks incredible on everyone.

Disaster has, arguably, always been at the heart of Foster’s brilliance. After twenty years working in fashion, Foster had grown acutely aware of the industry’s destructive environmental impact and decided to tackle the dark side of denim (this time, we’re not talking about a wash).

America’s woven sweetheart is one of the textile industry’s most notorious pollutants. Cotton cultivation and processing is a draining enterprise: it takes fifteen hundred gallons of water to
produce the pound and a half of cotton required for a single pair of jeans. Then there’s the cocktail of toxic chemicals used in the dyeing and finishing processes that results in billions of gallons of contaminated wastewater.

“We have a duty to show that you can take material, upcycle it and it can look unbelievably chic.” Foster says. And that’s exactly what she does. While traditional designers conceive of a garment and then find the material, E.L.V. DENIM works the other way around – sourcing discarded material and designing from there. The two new additions to the E.L.V. DENIM line up are no exception. “We started to find so many pairs of jeans that are damaged on the inside or the outside. Contrast Flare and Boyfriend are a new way to make use of the good part of the denim,” Foster explains. “At the end of the day, the point is to really utilize everything. I see mountains and mountains of denim and I want to be able to sweep it all up.” When you see her latest styles, you’ll want to do the same.