16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial personalities of our time – she represents inspiration and hope but is also a threat and therefore a target too. While for many she is the face of a strong-willed generation, for others she is too naïve, too radical, too vocal, and yes, simply too young, to have an informed opinion.

I’m not going to get into the theory of how much her opinion would be worth if she were an accomplished businessman in his mid-50s, but the fact is that this planet urgently needs a change of course if it’s going to be home to future generations making their own decisions about the future.

Nonetheless, a seemingly hopeless situation invariably needs extreme measures to overthrow outdated systems. And, let’s not forget, a revolution doesn’t happen by gentle coaxing and persuasion, but by protest and discontent. The fact that we are experiencing a revolution right now seems to have passed many people by – but not the fashion industry.

One of its most progressive trailblazers is the denim market. The protagonists at the helm realised that the old paths were leading us down dead ends and it was high time for new production methods, new technologies, new outlooks, new rules and a new understanding. No sooner said than done. For years now, manufacturers, brands and decision-makers have been working on breaking through the old structures and creating new ones.

So, for this issue we took the opportunity to speak to precisely those people. Such as Barbaros Durmaz and Tamer Akdogan from Barta Tekstil, for example, who we met in Izmir, Turkey, for a chat about the shift to sustainability and their own label (from page 58). Zaki Saleemi, from Pakistani manufacturer Rajby, is also more than aware of the urgent need for textile innovations, as he explains from page 64. Bossa’s Tayfun Akbay also has clear ideas of how to steer the denim industry towards a more sustainable future (from page 68). And why jeans will be the uniform of a new rebellion is revealed to us by Jeanologia’s CEO Enrique Silla on page 66, while Ecochain’s Henk van Dop is encouraging us to think about the entire cycle in our ‘Insider Opinion’ column on page 98.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of this issue of J’N’C. So take the time to read on with an open mind, following the example of ‘Greta the Great’, because we can all make this world a better place – we just have to want to do it.

Enjoy reading and see you again in January!

Cheryll Mühlen