Patagonia and other outdoor wear retailers are not the only apparel merchandisers dedicated to producing a “green” product. One interesting example of a large apparel company focusing on sustainability is Levi Strauss. Levi’s is one of the oldest and most renowned jean manufacturers in the United States (its first pair of jeans was created in 1873.)[4] In recent years, Levi’s has made a name for itself by focusing on creating a more sustainable product.
Perhaps in response to growing environmental concerns, in 2007, Levi’s commissioned in-depth analysis of the life cycle of its denim and khakis. The lifecycle of these two products was examined from cradle to grave and took into account both water and energy use. The analysis led Levi’s to some surprising results. The company found the largest environmental impact came from the amount of water used in the production of jeans and khakis. The company found that the life-cycle of a single pair of Levi’s 501 jeans used more than 3,000 liters of water. Of that, 49% was used during the cotton-growing stage, 46% when customers washed their jeans and 6% during the manufacturing process.
Levi’s acknowledged that using large amounts of water was not responsible or sustainable. The company started by asking the consumers to uses less water. It said cutting back on washing jeans was an easy way to reduce water used in the lifecycle. If people wash their jeans half as much, water use would be staggeringly reduced. Levi’s acknowledged that shifting the burden to the customer would not solve the problem, because a majority of waste rested in the creation of the product. Levi’s confronted the issue directly and reinvented its contton processes. Levi’s introduced Water<Less jeans which reduced the amount of water used in demin creation from 28-96% depending on the denim style and has saved 156 million gallons of water around the world. [5]
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[4] http://www.levistrauss.com/our-story/#introduction
[5] http://lsco.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/CEO-Water-Mandate-Communication-on-Progress-2011.pdf
