Denim has been a staple in every household for decades. What originated as a laborer’s uniform has evolved into a closet essential. Brands like Calvin Klein and Levi’s catapulted a pair of jeans to its current status as a necessity for all wardrobes.
Today, 450 million pairs of jeans are produced every year. The average American owns 7 pairs of them!1 They are by far the most popular garment in the world. With their popularity comes important questions about their impact.
If 450 million pairs of jeans are being made every year, how many are actually being sold? What environmental consequences are there to this much jean production; especially in terms of using chemical dyes? How much water does it take to make 450 million pairs of jeans every year?
The denim industry has been thriving for decades, but at what cost?
How Jeans Are Made
To appreciate jeans’ impact we first have to understand their creation. Cotton is essential to jean production. And it is one of the world’s thirstiest plants; it takes 10,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilogram of cotton. That water usage combined with pesticides means a lot of negative environmental impact.
Considering it takes 8 gallons of water to make a single pair of jeans (excluding the amount of water required for the cotton production), that’s about 3.6 million gallons of water per year spent only on creating denim.
Cotton is the basis of denim. It used to be that jeans were made entirely of cotton. Now, they’re usually a mix of synthetic materials plus cotton. Once the fabric is created, it’s sent to jean factories where it’s cut and sewn. After that, trimmings are added like rivets and buttons. Then it’s washed and ready to sell!
What’s Concerning About Jean Production
The negative environmental impacts of any garment are exponentially increased when you consider scale. There is a staggering amount of jeans produced each year. What materials they require, who makes them and the environmental impact of their materials are all vital to understand.
Let’s dive deeper into the impact of the materials required for jean production.
- Water: As we discussed, water is an necessary and huge factor in making jeans. It’s also a conduit for many harmful pesticides. The majority of cotton production is done non-organically which requires a lot of pesticides. Farmers use pesticides to obviously deter pests, and to attain the maximum yield possible from their crop. Even though their use can have grave effects like water pollution and causing cancers. This works hand in hand with the dyeing process. As often toxic dyes are used to color jeans which leads to even more deadly water pollution. In fact, the textile industry is the second largest water polluter in the world.
- Dye: Producing jeans requires dye. Historically, indigo was used to color jeans their characteristic blue hue. Now, synthetic dyes are preferred as they are more cost-effective and readily available. The issue with a lot of these synthetic dyes is the focus on accessibility over environmental impact. As explained with water, toxic dyes are rampant in the fashion industry. Factories still use them simply because they’re cheaper. But, they’re killing local wildlife and people. A lot of these toxic dyes end up in our water, as well; thus poisoning a vital resource. Consider the ramifications of toxic dyes when they’re used in hundreds of millions of jeans. Now that’s scary.
- Energy: Not only does the fashion industry impact water and soil, but it consumes insane amounts of energy. The mechanical processes of spinning and weaving denim fabrics on factories’ scales is astronomical. Creating denim requires the temperature be kept high at all times to ensure a certain moisture level. This means a lot of energy is being used. Is a single pair of jeans really worth this much excess of resources?
Why Jean Production’s Waste Matters
The waste involved in the jean industry matters like it does for any other garment. We don’t need any more. Consider the amount of valuable resources we’re wasting on jeans every year. Now consider how many jeans are currently in circulation in reference to that number.
We have enough jeans now to clothe everyone in the world multiple times. When you have that much surplus of a product, it’s gluttonous to want even more! We have to consider the ramifications of sustaining an industry that requires so many resources, harms so many populations and clogs our landfills.
Conventional jean production means using some 30 gallons of water per pair. It means dyeing them with the cheapest dyes available, often toxic. It means washing excess toxic dye in our waterways. And it means throwing another pair of jeans on top of the 450 million others for the year.
We have enough jeans. We don’t need more! Or at the very least, we don’t need to produce them on the scale we are now. The entire practice is detrimental to us and our planet.
How To Break the Wasteful Denim Cycle
If you’re feeling a little hopeless about the denim surplus, don’t despair! There are actionable steps you can take to reduce your own environmental footprint.
- Keep wearing your jeans! Some people say the most sustainable garment you own is the one that’s already in your closet. Meaning everything you need you already have! If you have a bunch of pairs of jeans now, just keep wearing the ones you own instead of seeking new ones. If there’s a pair that doesn’t fit anymore or has a minor damage, fix it! We should buy clothes with the intent to keep them for years. By doing so we are reducing the wasteful of always buying, buying, buying
- Recycle your jeans responsibly: Once you’ve worn out your jeans, find new purpose for them! Maybe they can be repurposed into a denim shirt or cut up and made into a durable rag. Or if they’re 100% cotton they can even be composted! If you do decide to donate them, know there may still be a chance they end up in a landfill. It’s preferred to either re-sell your jeans yourself or find a new purpose for them. Just be sure whatever method you choose you research it properly beforehand!
- Opt for eco-friendly denims if you need to: If you actually have a need for new jeans, please shop responsibly. Look at consignment stores or thrift shops in-person or online first. If you still haven’t found the right pair, shop from a jean company that uses eco-conscious and preferably recycled materials. Organic cotton is a must. Plus, make sure they’re durable. You want these jeans to last you as long as possible without contributing to the jean industry’s hazardous practices. Shop smartly and if you need help finding a place, I know a list that might help.
References
1 Ghelber, A. (2020, February 18). Denim Jeans Market Report: 2019 Recap And 2020 Mind-Blowing Projections. Retrieved from Revuse: https://www.revuze.it/blog/denim-jeans-market-report/#:~:text=The%20average%20American%20owns%20seven,the%20United%20States%20per%20year.
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