Levi’s saved 1 billion litres of water through sustainability initiatives

To reduce the impact of cotton consumption, Levi’s is working with the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) to train farmers to grow cotton using less water. Based on the latest BCI harvest data available, in 2013, cotton farmers in China reduced their water use by 23 percent compared with farmers who were not using BCI techniques. Levi’s plans to continue working with its global suppliers with the goal of sourcing approximately 75 percent Better Cotton by 2020, up from 6 percent today.

The denim company will also continue to work toward using less water during manufacturing by expanding the Water<Less process to include more Levi’s products, such as tops. By 2020, the Levi’s brand aims to make 80 percent of its products using Water<Less techniques, up from nearly 25 percent today.

The new LCA also reveals that Americans use more water and energy to wash their jeans than consumers in China, France and the UK It shows that consumers in China wear their jeans, on average, four times before tossing them into the wash – and if American consumers did this, they could reduce the water and climate change impact from washing their jeans by 50 percent.

“It’s time to rethink autopilot behaviours like washing your jeans after every wear because in many cases it’s simply not necessary,” said Chip Bergh, CEO and president of Levi’s. “Our LCA findings have pushed us as a company to rethink how we make our jeans, and we’re proud that our water stewardship actions to date have saved 1 billion litres of water. By engaging and educating consumers, we can fundamentally change the environmental impact of apparel and, ideally, how consumers think about the clothes they wear every day.”