Saving Water - One Pair of Pants at a Time

photo credit: Lars Plougmann on flickr

Here in the North Bay when we consider water conservation we commonly think about outside irrigation in the summer and low flow toilets in general. Turns out the food we eat and the other products we buy also contribute to the amount of water we use.

This month Levi's introduces a new line of jeans they're calling WaterLess Jeans. The process used to finish these pants is projected to save 16 million liters of water - a 28% savings. Who knew? Turns out it's not just how you wash your jeans, it's also how they're made that counts.

According to a Levi's announcement last November, "during the production process, a typical pair of jeans are finished in large washing machines and dryers to create a unique look and feel. Using traditional garment washing methods, the average pair of jeans undergoes 3-10 washing cycles - adding up to approximately 42 litres of water per unit"

Levi's have reduced the water consumption in the finishing process by making simple changes to the process such as:

• Reducing the number of washing machine cycles by combining multiple wet cycle processes into a single wet process
• Incorporating ozone processing into the garment washing
• Removing the water from the stone wash

"What's different about [the new collection] is that we're still using the same materials and techniques to create finishes for our jeans but we've substantially reduced water's role in the equation," said Carl Chiara, Director of Brand Concepts and Special Projects for Levi's. "Sometimes, the way to achieve a more sustainable design is to rethink a traditional process and find a way to do it better."

So there you go. We haven't quite reached the stage they did in Dune, but to avoid that, it would be no bad thing if we considered our use of water all along the way.

For more information:
:: Levi's WaterLess Jeans press release
:: Your pants are made of water on www.bluegranola.com