Why Choose Eco-Friendly Jeans Brands?

First off: are jeans sustainable?

Traditionally, no.

Globally we consume about 1.2 billion pairs of jeans per year. Every single one of those requires 3,781 liters of water to produce.

In the UK, women’s jeans are considered to have the highest water footprint of all clothing.

Then there’s the chemical factor, first at the cotton farming stage. Most jeans are made with traditionally farmed cotton. Traditional cotton is hugely land and water-consuming, accounting for 16% of the world’s use of insecticides.

Those chemicals leach into the environment, deplete the soil of its natural nutrients, and can cause severe health defects in farmers and animals.

As for the manufacturing stage, the cotton fibers must first be bleached white and then dipped repeatedly in indigo dye in order to achieve a lasting, dark coloration. This, of course, leads to vast amounts of chemical runoff and wasted water.

After that comes finishing. There are many different techniques used here, and few of them are eco-friendly. The most common are stone washing and sandblasting.

Stonewashing means literally washing the jeans with pumice stones to make them look worn. The problem is pumice stone mining is responsible for a considerable percentage of carbon emissions. The dust generated by the process can also lead to respiratory health effects on the miners.

Similarly, sandblasting puts factory workers and their lung health at risk because it generates dust while the workers are literally blasting the jeans with abrasive sand using high-pressure hoses.

And in the end, out of those billion-plus jeans, less than 1% gets recycled.

How We Found These Sustainable Jeans

Are there eco-friendly jeans?

Yes! Perhaps a surprising number of them—which made picking out our favorite pair of jeans a tricky task.

Materials matter, but they’re not everything—so what is sustainable denim made of, really?

Materials:

What is the most sustainable denim fabric?

100% organic cotton, which uses 88% less water, and 62% less energy (along with no chemicals) than traditional cotton.

Other options include recycled or regenerative cotton (the latter of which is also usually organic), lyocell, or modal.

Many brands use small amounts of recycled and virgin synthetics for stretchy denim. This isn’t as great as being fully compostable and natural—but it’s not altogether bad if the synthetic content remains under 4%.

Under the materials class, we also look for sustainable natural dye jeans or those that use vegetable dyes and natural indigo.

• Certifications:Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Global Recycle Standard (GRS), OEKO-TEX, Organic Content Standard (OCS), Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), bluesign®

Supply chain & labor practices:

Ethically produced jeans come from brands ensuring everyone is paid fair wages and works under safe, ethical conditions. First things first, we look for transparency.

It’s hard to tell if everyone is being treated fairly if we don’t know who or where our clothes are being made. So we ask #WhoMadeMyClothes?

If companies are sufficiently transparent, we then look for proof of fair wages, employee support, and working conditions. We can discern ethical denim production by looking for third-party audits and certifications to ward against greenwashing, though these can have greenwashing of their own…even B Corp.

• Certifications:Fair Trade, B Corporation, Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), Social Accountability International (SA8000)

Carbon commitments & green business practices:

Companies are working to reduce their environmental footprint in so many ways, and that’s where this category comes in.

It’s a catch-all for green initiatives like garment recycling programs, rental services, reducing and reusing textile waste, carbon offset programs, using renewable energy, having closed-loop fiber processing, and shipping plastic free.

Inclusivity:

Jeans should hopefully fit well, no matter how big, small, or curvy you are.

We always prioritize sustainable fashion brands with a wide range of sizes and promote body positivity by cultivating a supportive and well-rounded brand image.

Community & charitable giving:

We love brands out for more than just profit but want to make the world a better place by donating time, money, or support to various causes by raising awareness.