How To Green Your Jeans
Blue jeans are an American staple, but I have some bad news for you: they aren’t so great for the environment. The average pair of blue jeans consumes approximately 919 gallons of water during its lifespan. Not only do we need water to wash the jeans, but quite a bit of water is used in the cotton growing…
Blue jeans are an American staple, but I have some bad news for you: they aren’t so great for the environment.
The average pair of blue jeans consumes approximately 919 gallons of water during its lifespan. Not only do we need water to wash the jeans, but quite a bit of water is used in the cotton growing and manufacturing process.
In an attempt to protect the environment, Levi Strauss created a program to use less water while they make jeans. It involves teaching farmers the latest irrigation and rainwater-capture methods. Levi-Strauss has also introduced a brand of stonewashed denim that is smoothed with rocks but no water.
To further conserve water, Levi Strauss suggests washing jeans rarely, if at all, and place them in the freezer to kill the germs that cause them to smell.
Okay, so I’m not so sure I’ll be trying that last technique. Other reasons aside, can you imagine waking up in the morning and putting on a pair of ice-cold jeans? And if you have a small freezer, even one or two pairs of jeans would take up a lot of valuable space. I think I’ll stick to washing them with cold water!
What do you think of Levi Strauss’s techniques? Would you put your jeans in the freezer in lieu of washing them?
For more information:
- How To Save Water: A Family Dinner Table Talk
- Stone-Washed Blue Jeans (Minus the Washed)
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