Josh Myers - Denimolite
Josh Myers, Engineering Product Design graduate, won the Innovation category of the 2024 South Bank Ignite finals in the summer. His invention, Denimolite, is a new material – a composite made from denim. We caught up with him about his entrepreneurial journey at LSBU, and how the skills from his course helped get him to where he is today.
What is your idea, and when did it start?
My idea was Denimolite - a unique composite material made from one of the most beloved fabrics in modern wardrobes: Denim. We combine unusable manufacturing off-cuts, unwanted donated garments, and notoriously difficult-to-recycle 'stretch' denim, with a plant-based bio-resin to create one-of-a-kind materials designed for interior designers, home renovators, commercial designers, and architects.
It started during my placement year, February 2022. During Covid, there were less internships and a higher demand for them, so I didn’t get one. I used the time to experiment with clothes and fashion. The skills from my course played a big part, such as material knowledge, sustainable design and circular design theory.
What was the inspiration behind your idea?
I have always had a keen interest in clothes and fashion. During my placement year, I started my fashion brand, reselling batches of sorted vintage clothing. This experience revealed the massive amount of second-hand clothing that is simply unsellable due to its condition, quality or style. As much as half of what I bought to resell was unsellable.
As I researched my final major project at university, I uncovered the scale of this issue: second-hand clothing pollution is a global crisis. For example, the UK purchases around 70 million pairs of jeans every year, and through a combination of unusable manufacturing off-cuts and discarded garments, produces 260,000 tonnes of waste denim annually. Globally, this number rises to an estimated 2.16 million tonnes. There are landfill sites around the world in some of the poorest place such as Kantamanto, Ghana that receives western market’s unwanted second-hand clothing – they receive around 15 million garments weekly, and approximately 2/3s of this is either dumped on the beach or burned in landfills. A big inspiration was wanting to find a useful application for this fashion waste.
I also had the opportunity to delve deeper into research and reading during my placement year. I discovered a book in a local charity shop written by Seetal Solanki called ‘Why Materials Matter’. This excellent book explores sustainability and alternative materials. It was here that I found key inspiration for Denimolite from artist Jorge Penadés and his work on Structural Skin. His innovative approach fascinated me, and I was inspired to create a composite material from fashion waste, leading to the inception of Denimolite.
I combined this new inspiration from Penadés’ work with my own situation, having a surplus of waste fabric, to start experimenting with resins and compressing fabrics. This was a process that involved a lot of trial and error. Initially I tried acrylic resin, but this isn’t sustainable (and smells really bad) which moved me away from that. I then moved towards more sustainable plant-based binding agents.
In my final year, we started thinking about what happens after the shelf life of the product expires, and the broader picture regarding pollution related to the manufacturing of the product. Penadés used pearl glue, made from animal bones, but that wasn’t the direction I wanted to go in, especially as I was experimenting at home at the time. During a research module on my course, I found out about bioresins. I reached out to a competitor focused on making composites using waste wool, established a good working relationship with them and got the details of their resin supplier.
Who will it benefit?
Long term, the benefits will seen by interior designers, architects, manufacturers, homemakers and clothing retailers, giving them a one-of-a-kind product and can’t be got anywhere else, giving their clients a niche product.
In terms of wider benefits, communities located closest to fabric landfill sites such as Alto Hospicio, Chile or Kantamanto Ghana, will see landfill sites reducing in size and have opportunities to turn waste into a new material.
Eventually, everyone benefits, as the global environmental impact of clothing pollution is reduced.
What are your plans for the future?
It’s small scale at the moment, producing material samples for commercial designers, interior designers, architects etc. There is a selection of items created during my university course currently on our website, which once sold out won’t be made again.
In the long term, I want to expand production, and manufacture Denimolite sheet materials in commercially viable standard board sizes, manufacturing Denimolite materials in this format streamlines our business model and provides materials for interior designs and architects to create with.
What does winning South Bank Ignite and the Ignite Award mean to you?
Winning the South Bank Ignite Award is an incredible honour and a significant milestone in my journey. It validates the hard work, creativity, and passion that I have poured into my projects. This recognition not only boosts my confidence but also motivates me to continue exploring innovative and sustainable solutions in the fashion industry. The award opens up new opportunities for collaboration, growth, and exposure, allowing me to make a more substantial impact with my work. It reinforces my commitment to sustainability and inspires me to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in fashion, alternative materials, waste upcycling and interior design.
How has LSBU supported you in your enterprise journey?
At the end-of-year degree show for my product design course, I was invited to take part in the incubator programme. Through this I had access to mentorship and guidance, and learned a lot about pitching and pitch decks, making big improvements as a result. They provide office space so I was able to have meetings in person with customers, suppliers and clients. They also offer really good educational programmes and workshops, on topics such as how to set up a business and protect your IP. It was just a great community to be a part of, and one that I’ve made long-term connections through.
You can find more and see Josh’s products on the Denimolite website.