Does the Devil Wear Jeans?

Dec 1, 2021

Denim is virtually able to connect all the possible dots in the fashion map. But is there a curse behind this magic?

Jeans are one of, if not, the most popular items in worldwide wardrobes. From men to women, from children to elderly, from luxury to vintage. Denim is virtually able to connect all the possible dots in the fashion map. But is there a curse behind this magic?

Cotton

Jeans are made of cotton, which requires more water, pes, and fertilizers than any other fiber to produce. It is estimated that the cotton needed for a single pair of jeans exerts 6800 liters of water to grow. Cotton harvesting is one of the most critical points in textile material sourcing in terms of sustainability as OGM intensive agriculture is impactful for land consumption and working conditions.

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But that’s not it all. The material processing stage also uses more water and energy than any other fabric, bringing water consumption for manufacturing a single pair of jeans to over 11.000 liters.

Pollution

The “denim footprint” is not limited to consumption: it extends to pollution.

The signature indigo dyeing required by the jeans item is highly toxic (using well-known poisons such as cyanide), thus producing an enormous amount of wastewater.

What’s more, a large amount of jeans items on the market are a mix of cotton and synthetic fibers, which means they release up to 56000 non-biodegradable microfibers per wash.

Fashion Victims

Denim production is made even more impactful by aesthetic standards. If jeans, even going through transformations, made it through 70 years of fashion trends (and counting) it is thanks to their “authentic” look. Too bad, that distressed look is not natural at all: it comes from a process called “sandblasting”, which consists in shooting abrasive sand onto denim jeans under high pressure. This makes it more harmful and dangerous in terms of workers’ health - that is also why the practice is banned in several countries - but also affects the endurance of the item.

Waste

If jeans are popular for a reason, that is because of their long life in our wardrobes. But these “beauty treatments”, in fact, and distressing the fabric in general, means that the item will disperse more microfibers when washed, and also that the product will be worn-out sooner.

This leads to the last pain point of this story: if jeans have been popular since the 1950s and still are, that means that denim is very popular in landfills all over the world, as well. What makes it worse is that denim doesn’t break down as other textiles do, taking hundreds of years to decompose. Synthetic dyeing even slows down this process, while mixing cotton with synthetic fibers - which was more and more common since fashion trends made stretchy jeans popular - also makes it impossible to recycle.

Wind of change

Does this mean that jeans should be banned from our wardrobes? Not necessarily.

Demonizing a single item or material and using it as a scapegoat is way too simple. In the run for sustainable fashion, consciousness is the key. More awareness on the consumer side should bring to a virtuous path: buy less, buy better.

This is already happening and increases the demand for sustainable production, which leads to more and more sustainable approaches in the fashion industry supply chain. Denim is no different, and innovation is coming in multiple shapes and from so many different directions.

Let’s look at some of the brands working on solutions:

Redesign

Companies need to understand the impact of their production, from the beginning of the supply chain to the final product. After a comprehensive assessment of emissions and resource extractions, they can decide how and where to make improvements.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation created a project which involves 70 leading brands, manufacturers and fabric mills to improve denim and jeans manufacturers’ standards in terms of durability, material health, recyclability and traceability.

Find out more about The Jeans Redesign project

New wave

Getting big brands involved in a growing effort is always good news as it allows them to make a great impact on the market by reaching the biggest percentage of consumers.

On the other hand, converting their supply chain takes a gigantic effort and does not come cheap. That is why lately several initiatives popped up around the world and these new brands built their mission, and therefore their identity, around specific sustainability targets.

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Solutions

Cotton

As cotton production is one of the problems, the first thing to do is choosing recycled and/or organic cotton. Certification systems already in place (such as GOTS) also allow to make sure that sustainable textile fabric sourcing matches with ethical treatment of workers;

New fabrics

Alternative denims are another direction explored both by big players and smaller companies. Tencel is a popular example of sustainable biodegradable cellulose-based fabric that has contracts with companies all around the world, but Research and Development in this field have no limits. Candiani, an Italian company that patented Coreva, a stretch denim made from natural rubber that can biodegrade in six months, also supplies some of the major brands on the market.

Waste

The concept of biodegrading is a diversion from the sustainable concept of circularity as it does not bring the material back into the production loop. One of the keys to reduce consumption and enhance recycling is to re-think the retail system.

MUD, a circular denim brand with an holistic approach over supply chain sustainability, introduced in 2013 “lease a jeans”: the incentive idea is to collect old jeans in exchange for discounts over new ones. But you don’t own the jeans, you just lease it for a limited time and a convenient fare. At that point you can swap with another one or keep it. The jeans that go back to the company are either recycled or sold as vintage products.

Thanks to this truly circular system, sustainable products are pushed into the market by making them as convenient as the mass produced items (if not better), and there is no waste production.

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Pollution

Water consumption and water pollution are top priority problems to be solved by innovation companies, and this means investing in the technology they use.

Optimising the process in some cases led to cut up to 90% of the water using technologies such as Jeanologia air washing machines, that also collects and reuses the polluting liquid instead of disposing in the wastewaters.

Another process that is being declined by several manufacturers is the use of a laser system to cut down on toxic practices such as stone washing and sandblasting to distress jeans.