As part of COTTON'S DIRTY LAUNDRY TOUR® in 2006, the COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.™ denim drive served as a grassroots student-run campaign to educate college coeds about their favorite cotton clothing — denim. Not only is cotton cool and comfortable, but it is a resource that is natural, renewable and recyclable. COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.™ afforded the students a chance to make an impact on the environment in their own unique way.
In 2006, the COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.™ denim collection doubled initial expectations — a total of 14,566 denim pieces were collected nationwide. College students across the U.S. collected denim on their campuses and in their surrounding communities.
To begin the manufacturing process of donated denim into natural cotton fiber insulation, the first step was to send all of the denim to Allan Company, a leader in the recycling industry since 1963. From there, it was baled into 1,000 lb. bales and then transported to JBM Fibers, a leading manufacturer of reprocessed fiber, processed the collected denim and prepared it to its original fiber state, cotton, for the manufacturing of environmentally safe insulation through Bonded Logic Inc., the manufacturer of Ultra Touch™ natural cotton fiber insulation.
As a result of the 2006 COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.™ denim drive, and with help from Habitat
for Humanity Baton Rouge, 12 new homes for families affected by Hurricane Katrina were built in the spring of 2007 from the ground up utilizing UltraTouch™ natural cotton fiber insulation.
In 2007, COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.™ visited five universities across the country (Illinois State University, Iowa State University, University of Delaware, University of Oregon and University of South Carolina). The program challenged students to spend the month of April collecting denim from their student population, as well as surrounding communities. The denim was collected and will be converted into UltraTouch™ natural cotton fiber insulation. The recipient of the UltraTouch™ insulation will be determined at the end of COTTON'S DIRTY LAUNDRY TOUR® in late 2007.
