Punch line: Levi’s, eager to reduce its reliance on water-intensive cotton, has already used 3.5 million plastic bottles in its new Waste<Less jeans.
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Excerpted from Bloomberg Businessweek’s, “Levi’s Goes Green With Waste<Less Jeans”
Most apparel companies work hard to give their clothes the sheen of sophistication or whimsy. Levi Strauss is trying hard not to.
When its latest line of jeans arrives in stores early next year, the pitch will be: “These jeans are made of garbage.” Crushed brown and green plastic bottles will be on display nearby.
In 2007, Levi’s was among the first in the apparel industry to conduct a life-cycle assessment of some of its major products.
After measuring environmental impacts … Levi’s found that 49 percent of the water use during the lifetime of a pair of 501 jeans occurred at the very beginning, with cotton farmers.
It turned out that the manufacturing process, where Levi’s can exert the most control, had the least impact on water and energy use.
So Levi’s joined the Better Cotton Initiative … to teach farmers how to grow cotton with less water.
The first of the cotton was harvested last year, and Levi’s blended its share into more than 5 million pairs of jeans.
“Is turning eight bottles of plastic into a pair of jeans worth it? I think so,” says James Curleigh, president of the Levi’s brand.
Curleigh … argues that any reduction in Levi’s cotton use, however small, is worth it: “Cotton is the single most volatile commodity in the apparel industry. Never mind sustainability for a minute. If I could come up with a way to put 20 percent of something else that is cost-neutral and has a reliable source, I would probably take it anyway.”
Edit by JDC
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