Green Jeans: Levi’s
Levi’s does denim.
When it comes to denim, what’s better than cotton? Why, Better Cotton, of course.
As the world’s largest denim producer, Levi Strauss & Co. buys a lot of cotton. Which puts them in a unique position to promote sustainable practices in an industry that’s notorious for use of harmful pesticides, herbicides and resource consumption.
So we’re pleased to report that Levi’s is getting serious about sustainability, not just by creating limited lines of eco denim like its Water Less jeans, which have saved 156 million liters of water worldwide through their unique, resource-conserving production.
Levi’s has also started incorporating cotton grown via the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)—which works with farmers to reduce water and chemical use by 30%, and monitors labor standards in cotton-growing countries like China, India and Pakistan—into two million pairs of regular, ol’ Levi’s and Denizen (its “exclusively-at-Target” brand) jeans.
Currently, the proportion of Better Cotton in the Levi’s blend is small—a scant 5%—but when you consider Levi’s volume, that adds up to a major reduction in chemical fertilizer and pesticide use, and a significant benefit to everyone along the supply chain, from the farm laborers who handle the cotton for Levi’s jeans to the denimistas who wear them. And the company is working toward a goal of using 20% Better Cotton in its products by 2015.
But if you’re looking for a BCI label on your Levi’s jeans, you ain’t gonna find it. That’s because one of the goals of BCI is to make cotton farming more sustainable without creating a niche market that drives up prices, making it unaffordable for consumers.
Would we prefer a 100% sustainably made pair of jeans from the world’s denim leader? Of course. But we support and respect Levi’s commitment to improving the lives of cotton growers across the planet.
Baby steps, people.
What’s new in sustainable denim? From organic to recycled, we sussed out green jeans from Sweden to San Francisco: Nudie, Levis, Eileen Fisher and Sonas.
