Levi Strauss Uses Recycled Water to Produce Jeans

Its no secret that the textile industry can be wasteful with its resources, particularly when it comes to the larger brands. Fortunately, even the big names are beginning to realize that changes must be made.

Most recently, Levi Strauss is making a bold move in order to not only improve it’s own sustainable production practices, but also inspire other brands to do the same.

The company recently announced their latest effort in green innovation: their denim production process uses 100% recycled water.

So what does this process entail for the brand and green innovation?

The results of Levi’s initial testing paints a pretty concrete picture: after finishing 100,000 pairs of jeans using recycled water, the company saved 12 million liters (that’s 5 Olympic-sized swimming pools) worth of fresh water.

The brand partnered with one of their factories in Southern China to develop the technology, using recycled water in one of their machines for finishing denim. The process is still in the testing phases, but has yielded highly successful results. (Even Greenpeace has labeled the company a “Detox Trendsetter!”)

The goal for the future is to expand the use to recycled water to a larger range of products from Levi’s, and to implement the technology in more of the company’s factories.

In addition to technology and production methods, Levi’s has also developed guidelines for use of recycled water that can be applied to the textile industry as a whole.

For example, after the water is used in production, it is treated to meet certain quality standards and can continue to be re-used. Rather than keep this unique production method to themselves, the brand’s goal is to share it with the whole industry, in hopes that they can inspire others to take responsible initiative.