Diesel Is Bringing Sustainability Back

From the viral giant D belt and 1DR bags to open-air runway shows attended by thousands of fans, the Italian label Diesel has been a hit with a whole new generation. With a history of provocative ad campaigns in the 1990s which put social and political issues front and centre, the mega brand are once again employing smart creative storytelling to make sustainability cool again with a new docuseries.

Founded in 1978, Diesel's bread and butter is denim. For their recent A/W 24 collection, creative director Glenn Martens showed denim with a certain savoir-faire, made to look like leather, or taken away from its workman's roots and into the realms of high fashion with devoré and jacquard treatments.

The average person owns 6 pairs of jeans, but alas, denim is notoriously harmful to the planet. Doubling down on their For Sustainable Living strategy, Diesel has revived not just the look of their denim, but how their clothes are made. Alongside partnering with social development projects and organisations like the FSC® to support zero deforestation, since creative director Glenn Martens joined in 2020, Diesel's denim has gone from 3 to 50% organic, recycled and/or regenerative cotton. They've reduced the use of water and chemicals through their Diesel Library and Diesel Rehab Denim projects, and promoted circularity with Diesel Second Hand. A new five-part video series, Diesel’s Sustainability Deep Dive, sheds a light on what this all means for putting the sexy back in sustainability.

Andrea Rosso, Diesel’s Sustainability Ambassador, speaks to SHOWstudio's Editor Hetty Mahlich.

Hetty Mahlich: The global Diesel community has always been central to the brand's approach to communication, even becoming part of the show space for A/W 24. How does that community and customer hold Diesel to account, and push the brand forwards?

Andrea Rosso: It is precisely our democratic approach and the strong connection we have with our community that drive us to always push through new boundaries and promote a message of inclusion and sustainability through a unique, optimistic, provocative, and above all, straight-forward communication. Nowadays, in the brand vision, the For Successful living approach and the For Responsible Living one, are bound to go hand-in-hand and coexist in order for Diesel to truly achieve its goals. We share the same values of our community, and we try to always push forward, embracing new projects and initiatives that allow us not only to create lower impact products, but also to find innovative ways to make our business more circular season after season.

HM: Who is the Diesel target audience today? Has that changed since 1978?

Andrea Rosso: I wouldn’t say that Diesel target consumers have radically changed since 1978. Our community is still strong. There have been different creative approaches within Diesel throughout the years that have revisited the 'look' and art direction of the brand, giving it a more contemporary aspect, which contributed to the ability of the brand to get closer to younger consumers, but always staying true to its roots and respecting, from a communication point of view, the ironic, inclusive, irreverent and imaginative tone of voice of the brand that allowed Diesel to talk about social injustice, political absurdity, sexual biases, and cultural taboos and that gave Diesel the strong reputation that the brand earned not only for its products but also for its values.

HM: What product development are you most excited about from Diesel Library?

Andrea Rosso: Actually, what I’m really proud of is that within the Diesel Library we have been able to offer not only a full denim wardrobe but also a very wide range of Diesel looks: from basic rinse washes, to dirty effects and heavy stone-washes aspects, we replicated Diesel iconic treatments from the past with lower impact techniques. By the way, my favourite look from the library is still an ecru denim with rinse wash belonging to the initial Diesel Library collection. Respecting a 'preferred treatments' matrix and criteria that we defined internally, we promoted responsible practices with a new 360 approach that doesn’t only take into consideration fabrics, but also treatments and trims.

Diesel Library uses lower impact fabrics, such as those made using organic cotton and/or recycled cotton. On that regard, we’ve been also able to include some fabrics realised with our own cutting scraps coming from a circular project that we launched in Tunisia in partnership with the United Nation Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and a local supplier.

As I have already anticipated, we also use more responsible treatments that aim at consuming less water and less chemical. Finally, all Diesel Library products are made using lower-impact trims, which include: zippers made using certified recycled polyester or certified organic cotton tape, non-galvanized buttons and rivets, 'Diesel Industry' stripe and care label made using certified recycled polyester and patches made with Jacron, a FSC certified cellulosic material.

HM: After so much talk about sustainability in the industry, it's become an overused term. How is Diesel cutting through the noise and giving the word new meaning with this new docuseries?

Andrea Rosso: There are new legislations within the EU that will regulate and slow down the use of the word sustainability. It looks like it is finally becoming a term to be taken seriously and to be used only when it can be bound to facts, and not simply as a 'nice' word to use lightly!

I think every brand should have its own style of narrating sustainability. With Diesel, I believe that we embraced the straightforward / 'in your face' tone of voice, which allowed us to talk to a young audience with a little fun. A humorous and creative storytelling sets us apart but is still able to communicate strong and reliable messages.

HM: Where do you want Diesel to be in 5 years when it comes to For Responsible Living?

Andrea Rosso: Towards zero is our manifesto dream. In 5 or 10 years, I would love for Diesel to be able to state that we have achieved everything we could achieve in terms of reducing the impact associated to the products we make. Nevertheless, as we know, sustainability is a journey and a path towards continuous progress. With new international and EU laws implementation I think we will have to move faster to reach all goals and align with new regulations, but when we will be able to reach the objectives we set for our brand, then it will be time to start raising the bar and move towards new and more challenging goals.

For me For Responsible Living is a mindset that should be embraced by any person that crosses paths with the brand, starting from our employees, our suppliers but also all our clients.