Levi's jeans goes green

To environmentalists out there: Ever thought about how your favorite pair of jeans could possibly be so energy-guzzling?

The Levi Strauss & Co. has given it a lot of thought, and now it's working toward reducing carbon and energy emission in its production of that staple of everyone's wardrobe — jeans. The company began with its own life cycle assessment in 2007, a "cradle-to-grave" account of every stage of production of a pair of jeans.

Levi's assessment found that the CO2-equivalent emissions of an average pair of Levi's 501 jeans equal about 32 kg — caused by the cotton production, transport exhaust, washer-and-dryer use, and final disposal of a typical pair of Levi's 501 jean.This is equivalent to the CO2 emitted by an average U.S. automobile driving 78 miles.

The review also showed that the water used for jeans during the life cycle of one pair of 501 jeans is 3,000 liters (equal to 53 7-minute showers). The energy consumption is about 400 MJ (megajoules) of energy — the amount of energy used to power a personal computer for 556 hours.

Currently Levi Strauss is sponsoring a "wear responsibly" campaign in partnership with Goodwill, in which it offers suggestions to customers to wash jeans less and in cold water, line-dry when possible, and donate used jeans. Levi Strauss is also following a new cotton strategy in which eco-jeans use organic cloth, recycled denim and are distributed with recycled packaging.

Water shortage as a global problem is affecting Levi Strauss. According to a company spokesperson, Levi Strauss manufactures products in 45 countries. "Many ... are in the developing world and are already expected to feel the effects of climate change in checking water shortage (India, China, Nicaragua), disease (Cambodia) and flooding (Bangladesh). This creates risk and uncertainty around our long-term sourcing plans."

For Levi Strauss, this essentially creates risk in business — in quality, production and ultimately, revenue.

So it may be in global companies' best interests to embrace sustainability.But due to the depth and complexity of a manufacturing company's relationship with its local environment — its dependence on cotton, transportation and even trends in customer use — this will be easier said than done.

Junkscience.com owner Steve Milloy wrote in his blog that if Levi Strauss "were really concerned about CO2 levels, it would also go out of business." Milloy is also the author of "Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop them."

By 2011, Levi Strauss & Co. said they hope to reduce energy use and green house gas emissions by 11 percent worldwide compared to 2007 levels.

Lecia Bushak is a staff writer.