One Leg at a Time

Shopping for jeans can promote sustainability in manufacturing.

Eco-friendly, sustainability, recyclability; all of these are words that describe what an Ordinary Environmentalist looks for when they make purchases. When it comes to clothes however, it is a bit difficult to make purchase decisions that are environmentally mindful, without going to fringe stores and buying 100% organic hemp t-shirts.

Levi’s® is launching a new line called WaterLess jeans this month. They figured out that they could save a lot of water usage by changing their manufacturing process. With this line of jeans, they are using ozone within their ‘softening’ stage to help reduce water usage.

OK…. what does that mean? According to Levi's website, that saves from 28-96% of water consumption, saving about 16M liters of water for this new spring season line. That is a lot of water – and that is for one product line, in one fashion season.

I am not, as an Ordinary Environmentalist, going to purchase jeans exclusively based on their environmental impact; I put my pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else.

I will however consider them, and as with any product with sustainable practices, it may be the tipping point for me to purchase it over other similar products.