Research: The impact of jeans

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I read an article by The Guardian about sustainable jeans and the impact of denim. Here are the notes that I made whilst reading the article.
  • Estimated that it takes 10,000 litres to grow the cotton for each pair of jeans
  • Lines of pollution can be seen in China's Pearl River from space
  • Substances used to make denim look old harms worker's lungs
  • Ellen Macarthur Foundation's Jeans Redesign - guidelines to change the harmful production of jeans
  • Lee is a brand that are looking into new technology for jeans production that eliminates water and reduces energy and chemical use. They are also creating compostable jeans.
  • Skinny jeans shed a large amount of microplastics
  • Hiut jeans only make 100 pairs a week - they want to make the best jeans, not the most jeans
  • Raw denim hasn't been washed and treated many times (sandblast) so is better for the environment
  • Stretch stops jeans from being recyclable so 100% denim is better
I found this article useful as it highlighted the specific issues that denim presents and showed some solutions. 

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