What’s in my denims?

Who doesn’t love blue jeans?

The ultimate fashion staple, a must-have for any wardrobe, one of the most versatile pieces of clothing and an eternal classic.

But have you ever wondered what goes into making it?

Britney & JT and their love of blue jeans

WEAVING

The right kind of cotton is picked and processed and twisted into thicker threads. Cotton is known to be a famously thirsty crop.. no, we literally mean it drinks about thousands of litres of water, and is known to be responsible for 16% of all insecticide used in the world. Pesticides pollute nearby soil and water systems, threatening food chains and creating health risks for farmers.

CUTTING

Patterns are drawn on large quantities of this processed cloth and cut for different styles. Skinny, wide legged or straight-fit, this is where the cloth is shaped. The machines can cut up to 200 fabrics at once.

STITCHING

This is where we get that lovely dotted line, that iconic look for a demin. This is where they become pants.

DISTRESSING

The plain blue look isn’t as popular as it used to be, now we need some discolouration, some distressing and some texture. Sandblasting is one of the techniques that creates the friction needed to make the denims look rough and tough. Yes, the workers who are making your fav denim are physically dealing with big amounts of sands – is it getting all up in their lungs? YES. Is it leading to long term diseases, of course!

WASHING & DRYING

The jeans is washed many times to get the right colour and soften the fabric – the dyes are bled out to reveal their final shades and VOILA – it only took about 4000 litres of water, lots of chemicals in dyes and pesticides; and farmers and workers living with permanent breathing problems to make your blue jeans!

So – what can you do?

Make sure to wear them at least 50 times and when they do get torn, re-purpose them into masks, sling bags, scrunchies – or underwear – yes, they’re called Janties.