SPECIAL FEATURES:
Email
Don't wash those jeans, freeze them
A typical pair of blue jeans uses almost 1,000 gallons of water during its lifecycle!
Fri, Jun 15 2012 at 1:57 PM
Related Topics:
Photo: ...love Maegan/Flickr
By HLNtv.com Staff
We’ve all been there.
It’s early in the morning…you grab jeans off the floor and think, “Sure, I can wear these filthy jeans ONE more time before anyone notices the stains or smells. Love you, dark denim!”
You don't have to live in shame...embrace your inner slob. Washing jeans is so over! Levi Strauss says washing jeans too often is hurting the planet.
Yes, the company that created blue jeans is going green.
The New York Times reports: Levi Strauss & Co. says the typical pair of blue jeans uses up almost 1,000 gallons of water during its lifecycle. Huh? How? OK, that includes water for the cotton crop, making the jeans, and washing them dozens of times.
The company says instead of washing those stinky jeans, put them in your freezer! Right next to your ice cream! That will kill the germs that cause any offending odors. And it will save on water.
But your freezer? Mixed in with that chalky bag of frozen carrots from 2008, and a gourmet cupcake wrapped in foil with a probable layer of mold lurking underneath? You want me to add dirty, filthy jeans to the mix?
Levi Strauss is also marketing a new line of denim that apparently needs less washing from the start – a nod to worldwide water shortages. Perhaps the new jeans have magical powers to repel dirt, fight off coffee spills and zap chartreuse mustard splotches in seconds. Superhero jeans...that live in the deep-freeze.
Freezing Jeans. Anyone need a cool band name?
Related on HLNtv.com:
You might also like:
Sign in with one of these accounts to add your comment.
EDITORS' PICKS
Advertisement
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR ON
- Tornado survivor finds dog during live TV interview
- Superfoods: 11 berries to improve your health
- 5 of the best-looking cars ever
- Why we turn to dogs when disaster strikes
- 13 natural remedies for the ant invasion
- Watch: Tornado survivor finds dog during TV interview
- Kidnapped women will have chance to adopt Ariel Castro's dogs
- Bride finds self-esteem by taking a diet from her mirror
- Is that snake venomous?
- Happy World Turtle Day
NEWSLETTER
Advertisement
How is the water wasted? I pay for the 1000 gallons, then 998 gallons go down the drain so someone else can pay for it again! People always talk about water being wasted. The water isn't wasted, it doesn't disappear after I use it. It goes back into the system to be used again. How many years do you think it takes to use every drop of that 1000 gallons of water?
If they stopped growing cotton and started growing Hemp, it would take a lot less water, and their jeans would be much more "green".
totally agree hemp is wonderful , so is bamboo!
There's a company, RecoJeans, that makes their jeans out of recycled denim. They take the fabric that generally goes to waste from jean manufacturing and reweave it into new fabric. By doing this, they cut down not only on water waste, but fabric waste and pesticide use as well! This is another great way to be more "green: with your jeans.
(Recojeans.com if you want to check them out)
Freezing my jeans instead of washing them would save me a whole lot of quarters at the laundromat. However, I remain skeptical. Would that I could effectively do all my laundry in the freezer! Think I'll more likely go on holding out for disposable clothes. Environmentally sound disposable clothes, of course!
My problem is that I tend to spill something on my clothes or get dirt on them BEFORE they would start to smell.
How long do we need to leave them in the freezer? Also, does this 1000 gallons take into account the rest of the load of laundry?
Well, Mike Tomaka, at it again