Levi’s is committed to making its jeans as ‘planet and people-friendly’ as possible by adopting water-saving and sustainable sourcing goals and tracking the life-cycle of jeans to see its environmental footprint—as it turned out, water use impact from growing cotton is the biggest (49%), followed by consumer use (45%). Following the launch of Water<Less jeans, the Levi Strauss company is releasing 2 million pairs of Levi’s and dENiZEN jeans containing sustainably farmed fiber, a blend of Better Cotton, which is grown under the Better Cotton Initiative in a way that is healthier to the environment and communities, and other fabrics.

The international apparel brand joined the Better Cotton Initiative in 2009, thus committing to introducing better practices to the field. The non-profit program is now supported by a range of apparel and retailer companies—the founding members of the program, started in 2005, are adidas, Gap Inc., H&M, ICCO, IFAP, IFC, IKEA, Organic Exchange, Oxfam, PAN UK, and WWF. “Their initiatives focus on teaching farmers crop-growing practices that require less water and fewer pesticides, improving labor standards and increasing financial profit for farmers. Different growing techniques and varieties of cotton seeds are also used to increase the farmers’ yield,” reported www.apparelnews.net. To see all the process of growing cotton as part of the initiative, click on the Levi’s info-graphics below (it can be enlarged).

Photo: www.levistrauss.com/blogs, the process of making Better Cotton

The first BCI cotton for the 2010-11 crop year was grown at around 68,000 small farms in India, Pakistan and Mali by using less fertilizers, pesticides, and water, in better worker conditions—the improvements resulted in 38,000 metric tons of the 27 million metric tons cotton grown worldwide. Next year, they are going to expand the initiative to more countries—West and Central Africa, Brazil, and China—will be included and produce almost twice as much sustainable cotton, and by 2015 this amount is expected to hit one million metric tons. The Levi Strauss company is really concerned about the cotton issue since 95% of its products are manufactured from this fabric.

Unlike Water<Less jeans, the new apparel, which will be available in North, South and Central America, Europe and Asia through the end of the year, will not get by individual Better Cotton labeling, at least at the first stage of selling «to avoid creating a niche market that drives the price up and to give time for the supply to meet the demand,» writes www.apparelnews.net, quoting Brianna Wolf, senior specialist for Levi’s Office of Global Environmental Sustainability.

“As part of our partnership in the Better Cotton Initiative, we’re working to change how one of the most important commodities in fashion is grown,” commented Michael Kobori, Vice-President, Social and Environmental Sustainability, Levi Strauss & Co.