Joe Circular gives 'old' Joes a new lease on life
As you know, at Joe, we say 'sustainability starts with making conscious choices'. In our case, this means choosing clothes that you wear often and that last a long time. And if something is wrong with them or you're tired of them, choose to repair them or make someone else happy with them (repair and reuse). And if your Joe is truly at the end of its life, return it to a special collection container, or better yet: bring it to one of our stores and put it in Joe's recycle bin. Then we will do everything we can to make something beautiful out of it for our Joe Circular collection.
This is an intensive process. A generally recognized problem with recycling is that reuse can lead to lower quality. The condition is, therefore, that with the new circular products, we can guarantee the quality you expect from Joe. Our new Joe Circular Crew and Plaid, therefore, consist of 50% fibers made from 'old' Joe sweaters, supplemented with 50% new merino wool for strength. The Joe Circular collection is still 100% biodegradable. Speaking of sustainability - Joe Circular is knitted close to home by The Knitwit Stable in Baambrugge.
For the current very limited editions, we have only used old blue sweaters. Both the Crew and the Plaid are therefore available in a rich mottled blue color in which the history of the used sweaters shines through.
Joe Circular Crew and Joe Circular Plaid are currently only available in stores.
Recycling, how do we do it?
- First, we collect the sweaters.
- Then we remove labels, zippers, buttons, etc. from the sweaters and cardigans.
- Next, we clean them again.
- After which we shred and fiberize them.
- These fibers are spun together with the new wool yarns, knitted (including the green band), and washed again. Et voilà, a new tough Joe Circular Crew is born.
Joe Circular Crew
Joe Circular Crew is a thick, warm sweater in a sturdy fisherman's rib stitch (690 grams, 19.5 micron). Despite being knitted with 3 threads at once, it has the slim fit you expect from Joe. Available in a richly mottled dark blue, in which the history of the reused sweaters shines through. Due to the limited number of suitable sweaters and the intensive production process, Joe Circular Crew is currently only available in stores.
Joe Circular Plaid
Joe has also been able to make some Joe Circular Plaids from the returned Joe sweaters. The plaid (180 x 130 cm) is made from an even thicker yarn than the Joe Circular Crew and is, therefore, knitted with two threads at once in a garter stitch (1200 grams, 23 micron). Only available in our stores. Price: € 180.
Our search continues
Our ultimate goal is to create a Joe Circular collection consisting entirely of wool from recycled sweaters and cardigans. Our search therefore continues. You can help us with this by returning sweaters and cardigans that can no longer be repaired or that you are truly tired of to one of our stores in Amsterdam, The Hague, Antwerp, or Düsseldorf (in the special Recycle Bin). But please note: this only applies to sweaters and cardigans and only if they have been washed (so no shirts, socks, or jogging bottoms). Sending them by mail is not yet possible.
