Levi’s ‘Green’ Jeans Cut Water Use Up to 96%

by | Nov 4, 2010

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The Levi’s brand launched its new “Water<Less” jeans that are manufactured with significantly less water. The average pair of jeans uses 42 liters of water in the finishing process, says Levi’s; however, the new Water<Less collection reduces water consumption by an average of 28 percent and up to 96 percent for some new products in the line.

During the production process, a typical pair of jeans are “finished” in large washing machines and dryers to create a unique look and feel, says Levi’s. Using traditional garment washing methods, the average pair of jeans undergoes three to ten washing cycles.

By making some changes to the process, which includes combining multiple wet cycle processes into a single wet process, incorporating ozone processing into the garment washing and removing the water from the stone wash, the clothing manufacturer was able to substantially cut its water use.

The first collection of Water<Less products will be available in January 2011 and will include over a dozen classic Levi’s jeans, including the Levi’s 501 jeans and the 511 and 514 jeans, as well as the Levi’s trucker jacket.

The Levi’s spring 2011 product lines will contain more than 1.5 million pairs of jeans with the Water<Less method, saving approximately 16 million liters of water. The line will also include jeans made with the brand’s traditional rigid finish which inherently uses virtually no water in its production, according to the company.

The company plans to expand these finishing techniques to more global supplier factories for the fall 2011 collection.

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