Denim Twice Studio is an experimental creative practice built on the idea of upcycling worn denim clothing, waste-free. We create art and make unique goods from reclaimed denim, thus giving used fabric a new life and reducing textile waste.

Inspiration

It started with the realization that a discarded pair of worn-out jeans still had large patches of usable material. When opened at the seams and laid out, these patches resembled little blue windows - an invitation to look through and explore the possibilities.

On average, a pair of jeans requires about 1.5 yards of 58-inch wide fabric, which is about 22 square feet of material. The salvageable fabric from the worn-out jeans added up to 10 square feet. These jeans were heading to the landfill with 45% of their material still in usable condition! Based on EPA estimates, over 8.9 million tons of clothing and footwear end up in landfills annually, with only 1.7 million tons being recovered through recycling. 

Mending extends the lifespan of a garment. But jeans will degrade in the same areas as before while remaining barely worn in others. When a pair is discarded, part of its fabric remains in good condition.

That’s why we decided to give old jeans a second life and upcycle.

UP•CY•CLE

verb

1. reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.

Work

Denim Twice practice is based on waste-free ethos. We utilize almost every inch of old denim apparel we get our hands on:

• First, we create art. It requires the largest continuous areas of material.

• Then, we upcycle the remnants to make apparel, soft home goods, toys, and other unique things.

The waste that is left at the end of this cycle fits in the palm of a hand. See its weight in product descriptions in our shop. Thus our art and projects are virtually waste-free and we contribute to maintaining the ecological health of our planet. With minimal use of new resources, we develop innovative approaches to repurpose waste for outcomes that redefine sustainability.

We hope that the time will come when the un-recycled and un-upcycled clothing becomes scarce, and we at Denim Twice Studio have to reinvent ourselves. Ideally, this isn’t in a parallel universe.

Meanwhile, there’s so much to do! Explore what we’ve created so far and come back for more. 

About our founder

Following a successful design career in the fashion industry, Ruta Lauciene, the founder of Denim Twice Studio, has transformed her lifelong passion for upcycling textiles into a new creative pursuit. In a true form of artist-designer-maker, at Denim Twice she combines her artistic vision and technical mastery to create art from reclaimed post-consumer denim. With a bit of ingenuity, she then repurposes the remnants of that process to make unique goods, further reducing the non-recyclable end-waste.

Driven by optimism, Denim Twice Studio embraces the spirit of contemporary zeitgeist as an alternative art and design practice that is informed by urgent environmental concerns.