Making Jeans Green Linking Sustainability, Business and Fashion

Consumers spend approximately $93 billion on denim products every year. This consumption comes at a great cost, with thousands of litres of fresh water, hazardous chemicals and energy contributing to just one pair of jeans, leaving the environment and the industry vulnerable to pollution and climate change. Using facts, figures, case studies and anecdotes, this book investigates why the industry has been so slow to adopt green technologies and offers practical solutions to designers and fashion executives who want to switch to cleaner manufacturing, including those working in the ‘fast fashion’ sector. It also offers advice to the eco-conscious consumer who wants to purchase denim more sustainably. Considering the full lifecycle of a pair of jeans from the cotton crop to disposal, it presents examples of how to go green at different stages. This book will be of great interest to fashion students and researchers, as well as designers, fashion executives, policy-makers and anyone who comes into contact with the world of denim.

Foreword 1. History: Blue Blood 2. Psychology: Nothing Comes Between Me and My Jeans 3. Fiber: Picking the Cherries in the Crop 4. Chemistry: Getting Dirty With a Clean Conscious 5. From Recycling to Closed-Loop: Make Me Over 6. Economy: To Have or To Be? 7. Attention Consumers: Don’t Panic, It’s Organic 8. Future of Denim: Will It Be Blue? Conclusion

Paulina Szmydke-Cacciapalle is a Freelance Writer based in London, UK. She has gained extensive insight into the makings of fashion through her coverage at WWD (aka "the bible"), which serves senior fashion executives, designers, Wall Street analysts and the retail community as an independent and reliable source of information.