Levi Strauss has created a process for using 100 per cent recycled water in parts of its garment production. The jeans manufacturer wants to reduce its impact on the world’s water resources.
The process is being used in one of the brand’s key China unit, which bleaches, dyes and stone washes garments to achieve a specific look or feel. The factory, located in southern China, worked with Levi Strauss to engineer a system to pipe 100 per cent recycled water into an industrial laundry machine used for finishing one of its jeans lines. Some 1,00,000 pairs have now been produced with the new technology. The goal is to eventually use 100 per cent recycled water to finish a broader range of Levi Strauss products at factories in other parts of the world.
However, there are different definitions of 100 per cent recycled. Saying a garment is made from 100 per cent recycled water is not the same as saying that 100 per cent of the waste water is recycled. For example, there's no economically feasible way to recycle 100 per cent of laundry machine water in a closed loop system. It requires membrane technology that may triple or quadruple the cost of water treatment. That’s a cost that most consumers won’t accept.
www.levistrauss.com/
