Levi's new sustainably-grown cotton denim line

Friday, November 11, 2011

When you think of good ol’ American clothing companies, what comes to mind? Certainly for a lot of consumers, images of cowboys and railroad workers decked out in Levi’s jeans seem to be the picture-perfect match. In fact, the American-made label attached to the company was true for some time. In 1873, Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis received a U.S. Patent to make the first riveted men’s work pants out of denim: the first blue jeans. They appealed mainly to working people of the western U.S. until the later trends of the 1950s and 60s began to adopt this style of pants as well.

 Disappointment struck when in the fall of 2003, after over a century of being based in America, Levi’s announced it was closing its remaining factories in the U.S. and Canada and shifting the work to suppliers in 50 countries in Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The reason for the outsourcing was obvious: these are countries where labor and other costs are lower than in the United States. Since 2001, our country has lost nearly 3 million factory jobs because of this issue.

However, Levi’s is now going through a new transformation.  This fall, the company is releasing 2 million pairs of jeans made with sustainably-grown cotton to help reduce the company’s environmental impact and improve the lives of cotton farmers. This raises a lot of questions to those who have been keeping track of the company’s business decisions. Why the sudden shift from exclusively focusing on low costs?

 It’s hard to deny the recent trend of moving towards sustainable and organic materials. Levi’s turnaround is a perfect example of the tremendous effect this trend has had on our society; so big that the most profitable companies are tagging along. Levi’s mission began in 2007, when the company performed a lifecycle assessment to see what the environmental footprint was for a single pair of jeans. To their surprise, the process of growing cotton had the most impact on the environment (they assumed it would be the continual washing by the owner throughout the life of the jeans).

Because traditional methods used for growing cotton have negative environmental and social impacts, Levi’s joined the Better Cotton Initiative in 2009. This nonprofit teaches farmers crop-growing practices that require less water, improves labor standards and increases financial profit for farmers (sound familiar? Read about Fair Trade here.). Upon reading about their new coordination with a nonprofit, consumers once again feel comfortable buying from Levi’s, knowing that their money is going to benefit an honest worker and cause less harm to the environment.

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