Whether it comes in the form of pants, jackets, shorts, skirts, vests, or dresses, denim is a key component to any wardrobe. It has been the driving force behind many successful clothing brands. Despite denim’s prevalence, few know that the material is actually very hard on the environment, with a single pair of jeans requiring much water, chemicals, and energy to be produced. However one label has stepped up to change this. L.A. Corralez highlights how Jeanologia has reduced their footprint and their plans for the future.
Jeanologia, “Denim-Mad
Scientists”
By L.A. Corralez
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009 CONDUCIVE
It was once difficult for customers to buy the jeans they wanted and still be environmental. Dying and finishing jeans is hurtful to the environment. Dyes are toxic. Chemicals soften the stiff denim. An average pair of jeans need about a pound of chemicals to produce its worn look. Regular denim is dyed with petroleum-based dyes that wastewater-treatment facilities have difficulty breaking down.
But there is an alternative. For the past 15 years the Spanish finishing fabric and dying treatment company Jeanologia has been working to transform the denim business into a more socially responsible industry. Created by the family owned Groupo Eurotrend in 1993, Jeanologia chose early on to look beyond organic as the only means of promoting responsibility in the fashion industry. The company has conducted years of environmental research, developed energy efficient and non-toxic processes, and placed itself among the frontrunners of the textile technology.
With all this cutting edge technology, it is no wonder Jeanologia offers its services to the leading laundries, manufacturers, and brands. Jeanologia has a well-known clientele that includes Levi’s, Diesel, Abercrombie & Fitch, Zara, Edwin Jeans, and Lee.
Jeanologia’s 2006 in house study found that one pair of Levi’s 501 jeans used 920 gallons of water, took 400 megajoules of energy, and emitted 32 kilograms of carbon dioxide. According to an article on Salon.com, it takes 10.5 gallons of water to finish an average pair jeans.
Jeanologia’s finishing processes are one of the company’s greatest accomplishment. These include Color Dyeing System, Truth & Light, and G2. The Color Dyeing System uses cleaner energy and efficient machinery to dye garments at lower temperatures in less time. This system can give denim a faded, vivid, light, or indigo dyed appearance. Truth & Light uses Jeanologia’s safe and efficient GFK Laser technology to produce vintage-looking denim. For an authentic vintage look it copies from a picture of vintage denim. To make the jeans even softer, Jeanologia uses the G2 industrial washing machine. It is energy efficient and does not produce toxic emissions, while taking less than a minute. It was this advanced technology that led those at Jeanologia to call themselves the “denim-mad scientists.”
To read more about Jeanologia environmental innovations see their homepage.
For more on the political economy of jeans read Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade By Rachel Louise Snyder.
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