The Ultimate Sustainable Jeans For Everyday

Why you should care

Buying a sustainable pair of jeans can save 2500+ gallons of water…and basically, you\’ll pollute less.

Denim is one of those things that most people can agree on, like summertime and cheap wine. Who doesn’t love a good pair of jeans?! Male or female, 5 or 50 years old, denim is a staple in most of our wardrobes which means it’s also one of the most produced garments in the world. It’s truly a timeless piece, but we are ironically running out of time to make sure we don’t destroy the resources it takes to produce it. 

It’s true, the harmful impacts of manufacturing denim make us more distressed than our favorite pair of jeans. Fortunately, there’s many awesome ways you can be more conscious about your denim choices. We’ve highlighted our top four ways to choose impactful sustainable denim.

How To Better Choose Sustainable Denim

1. Upcycle. Make those old jeans into shorts. Add some fun letters or patches to an old jean jacket that needs a face lift. Or, sew your bell bottoms into straight legged as the trends shift. Ummm…the options for upcycling denim are endless! 
2. Buy Used. And by used we mean “vintage” (because everything sounds cooler when it’s vintage, right!?). This is one of our favorite ways to purchase denim because you can often snag some expensive name brands for a fraction of the cost and you aren’t contributing to the production of new garments (plus, how much cooler is it to say you’re wearing vintage Levi’s!?).
3. Purchase from a company with a take back program. Two birds/one stone ya’ll! Turn in a pair of jeans with every purchase of a new pair so someone else has the option to buy your “vintage” pair. Kuyichi is one of our personal faves or check out Zappo’s and their partnership with The Blue Jeans Go Green program!
4. Buy from a sustainable company. All these brands practice sustainable methods for their production, use less harmful dyes, and consume significantly less water than the average pair of jeans from another company.

3 Fave Sustainable Denim Brands

King of Indigo, Silver Social Good Medal

A comprehensive clothing brand who focuses on making jeans, and every garment, to last long, use sustainable production methods, source responsibly, and respectfully treat valued workers. They use a dry and raw denim method and saves 65% of water used because there’s zero washing when processing the denim. It just might be the most sustainable pair of jeans ever!

DL 1961 Premium Denim Jeans, Bronze Sustainability Medal

DL 1961 uses significantly less water during the jeans manufacturing than other conventional jean companies. They contributed nearly 370 pounds of excess fabric to FABSCRAP so the materials can be reused and upcycled for other purposes, like insulation!

M.I.H Jeans, Silver Sustainability Medal

This jeans brand is committed to reduce their environmental impacts across the supply chain, from raw materials to end of use. They donate the excess fabric to FABSCRAP so the materials can be reused and upcycled.

For even more tips, check out our Fashion This for That Guide!

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