Few garments are as universal as a pair of jeans. Since 1873 when copper rivets were added to denim worker pants to strengthen the pockets, a design patented by businessman Levi Strauss, blue jeans have crossed borders, classes and generations. From farms to festivals to high-fashion runways, jeans are everywhere.
Despite their often-humble look, jeans are the product of an intricate global value chain. Behind each garment is a planet-spanning web of natural resource extraction, manufacturing and transport, not to mention product design and marketing.
The complexity of what it takes to make one pair of jeans is mind-blowing, said supermodel and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Goodwill Ambassador Amber Valletta on a recent visit to a denim factory in Tunisia. There are hundreds of hands that go into making one pair of jeans. It's incredible."
But can such a vast and complex system stay in line with environmental boundaries?
That is a question Valetta recently set out to answer in a new UNEP-produced documentary. She toured Tunisian denim factories to see sustainable manufacturing practices in action and speak with those leading the push for more planet-friendly jeans.
Fashion and textiles is among the worlds most polluting industries. It also stokes climate change and consumes huge amounts of natural resources. And denim is one of the industrys most resource-intensive products. A single pair of jeans can require 3,800 litres of water to produce , found the brand Levis .Many jeans also need large quantities of energy and chemicals to achieve certain colors and special effects.
While much of the worlds denim is produced and manufactured in Asia, Tunisia is among the top suppliers of finished denim garments to the European Union (EU), holding about 8 percent of the market share last year. The North African nations proximity to Europe allows quick-turnaround times, which helps brands respond to the market and stay atop trends.
Tunisian manufacturers are regularly audited on EU rules and expectations, which have focused increasingly on traceability, transparency, durability and environmental performance.
The industry now is under strong pressure, said Bilel Ben Miled, Sustainability Manager at Gonser Group near Tunis, two factories of which were featured in the film. Brands, customers, final consumers and even governments are demanding sustainable products with low impact.
This pressure is often a chain-reaction: governments mandate environmental requirements from brands, and brands then push their suppliers to meet those standards, lest they switch to manufacturers that can.
At Gonser Denim Revolution (GDR), sustainability has increased over time through a series of improvements. For example, chemicals such as potassium permanganate and hypochlorite, long used to create certain denim effects, are being phased out in favour of safer alternatives that can deliver similar results with less environmental impact.
Critically, water used to wash the jeans at various points in the production process is treated and recycled. This and other technological improvements can help reduce the amount of water used in a single pair of jeans by 75 per cent, Ben Miled said. That is especially important in a country prone to extended droughts.
Meanwhile, another manufacturer, DEMCO, has also started using machinery that washes jeans with ozone gas or minimal amounts of ozonized water to bleach or fade denim. It reduces about 90 percent of the water used, said Johnny De Miersman, the companys founder and CEO.
The challenge is to find processes that achieve the same quality without creating problems for the environment or for the person who will wear the garment, De Miersman explained.
This is where UNEPs InTex programme comes in. Funded by the European Union and the Government of Denmark, and part of the UNEP Textile Initiative, InTex works with small and medium-sized enterprises in textile-producing countries to support their sustainability and circularity. The initiative helps factories collect and analyze operational data to better understand where environmental impacts are occurring most and what practical interventions can create the most measurable improvements.
For Ben Miled, InTex-supported life-cycle assessments helped turn sustainability from a broad ambition into an action plan. With this, we know where we can improve the environmental impact, where we can reduce our footprint, he said.
While GDR and DEMCO have had sustainability embedded into their philosophies since their inception, for many factories, the transition to producing cleaner and greener is being driven largely by policy. The European Union is advancing new rules that will come into effect in 2027 and 2028, including eco-design requirements and digital product passports, which document the sustainability of materials used in garment manufacturing. Ultimately, this promotes transparency, showing consumers what it is theyre really buying.
The digital product passport is pushing us to document everything about a garment, from the fibre, the composition, the wash, even traceability about recycling and everything that comes after, explained Alison De Miersman, DEMCOs creative director. In a demonstration, she showed Valletta a QR code on a garment revealing where the cotton, buttons, rivets and thread came from.
At DEMCO, sustainability is not just about what happens on the factory floor. It starts much earlier: on the design board. Along with exploring the use of recycled fibers, the company is looking into eco-friendly choices for things like buttons, thread and pocket linings. While often unnoticed by consumers, these choices can determine whether a pair of jeans lasts longer, uses less resources, contains safer chemicals and can be more easily recycled.
We have the potential to revolutionize the industry and change it systemically, Valletta said.
While consumers can play a role in that by demanding more sustainable denim, governments and industry must lead the charge, said Claudia Giacovelli, who heads UNEPs InTex programme.
Governments must set clear rules for sustainability, she said. Brands must design with sustainability and circularity in mind, while supporting suppliers as they transition away from harmful environmental practices. And manufacturers must continue investing in cleaner technologies and smarter production processes.
Industry players say the sustainability of denim will ultimately be shaped by a myriad of choices across the value chain in the coming years. As that process plays out, Valetta said it is important to remember that every garment comes with an environmental cost and that even the simplest t-shirt should not be viewed as disposable.
It came from the Earth, she said. There were a lot of hands that went into making it and a lot of different processes. It travelled all over the world just to get to you and your closet.
