Our lifecycle illustrates how important water is to our every day lives. We’re extremely dependent on it, water is equally as important to Levis to create their jeans – believe it or not! Every step of the process to create a garment requires water, from the cotton fields to manufacturing facilities.

It is clear we are in an era of water scarcity, it is apparent that water is an essential raw material for agriculture and many industries besides apparel. Levis have recognised that they must decouple the growth of their business and water needs if they want to continue leading the famous Levis jeans into the future.

The Water<Less™ process is an approach that reduces water in the design process in a different way to use far less than usual. This is done by reducing the amount of water used in the finishing process.

‘It’s not rocket science, but it is innovative. For instance, by simply removing water from stone washes or combining multiple wet cycle processes, we can significantly reduce water usage — up to 96 percent for some styles. At the same time, we still deliver the same great look and feel that you know and love.’

Since launching the Water<Less™ process in 2011, Levis have saved more than 1 billion liters of water in the manufacturing of LS&Co. Products, including 30 million liters of fresh water saved through reuse and recycling. By 2020, the Levi’s brand aims to make 80 percent of its products using Water<Less™ techniques, up from nearly 25 percent today.

This is an active improvement from a popular brand the cotton industry has taken to save water, as seen in the Stacey Dooley documentary there are a lot of shocking truths behind the cotton manufacturing process. Thousands of litres of water are used just to create just one pair of jeans, it seems so backwards and ludicrous that we as consumers buy a pair of jeans just to ‘feel good’ when Billions of people don’t have access to clean, healthy water. Its a basic need, so think to yourself when you buy a pair of jeans, how many litres of water could have gone to people suffering from dehydration.

As many people will turn a bind eye and will use the excuse ‘it wont make a difference if one person doesn’t buy these jeans’ thousands of others use that excuse to carry on consuming unnecessary garments. Therefore you’re adding to the vicious cycle of consumerism and popular culture that these high street fashion shops promote.