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Hit by the full force of the pandemic, Japanese

brewer Sapporo Breweries Limited is trying to win

over new customers. But not by launching a new

beer. Instead it is working with Shima Denim Works,

a company that makes clothes from bagasse, the

fibrous residue of crushed sugar cane. Together,

they are making jeans. The waste products from

brewing beer are turned into a traditional Japanese

paper called washi and are then integrated into the

spinning and weaving processes for the new denim.

Despite their high price of 41,800 yen (nearly 300

euros), the Black Label Malt & Hops jeans are flying

off the shelves, like pints in happy hour.

Beer is not just a drink. It’s a generational call to arms,

an emblem of a cool lifestyle with the same statutory

function as the original pair of jeans. It was just a

matter of time before the two got together somewhere

other than a bar or a barbecue. Today, people are

attempting to deconstruct themselves. In the same

vein, isn’t it time for jeans to enjoy a reconstruction?

This is the intuition that crossed the mind of Japanese

brewer Sapporo... To prove its waste recycling

ambitions, it is showcasing the upcycled result without

losing a single, super-hip step. Aficionados know very

well that “real” jeans are made on Japanese machines.

So why not make jeans from Japanese beer too?