Changing the World with a Pair of Jeans: Cotton Fiber, Environmentalism and Experiential Marketing in Present-day America

摘要

This article discusses the so-called "denim drive," an annual event in which Americans are given the opportunity to donate their old pairs of jeans, which are processed into eco-friendly insulation and used in charity projects. It discusses the emphasis on environmental concerns that is central to the drives, as well as the concerns of the main actors behind them. It also gives detailed attention to the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of cotton fiber and the transformations and applications that allow jeans to be processed into insulation. Exploring the links between the properties and transformations of cotton fibers that form the material underpinnings of the denim drives, it shows how the immense popularity of "the American uniform" facilitates the denim drives in surprising ways, which include matter as well as meaning.