Denim is a notoriously unsustainable and polluting industry, but are any brands making efforts to change? Here, we examine data from Good On You’s ratings to find out which brands are making more responsible jeans, and which ones still need a nudge in the right direction.
Why is denim unsustainable?
Before we get to which brands are doing the best (and worst), it’s important to understand the biggest sustainability challenges facing the denim world today.
As an industry rooted in making durable garments, denim ought to have some good sustainability credentials, right? Unfortunately, factors such as fast fashion and overconsumption have led to denim having an appalling track record for its impact on the environment, the workers in its supply chain, and on animals, too.
Some of the most common sustainability issues within the modern denim industry are water usage—the exact statistics for this vary depending on the source, but back in 2015, Levi’s noted that 3,781 litres of water were used in the production of a single pair of its 501 jeans. There is also the use and mismanagement of chemical dyes for achieving the fabric’s signature indigo colour (or, for natural indigo dye, the resources involved in growing the plant at scale); challenges in recycling blended yarns used to make denim; and a take-make-waste business model that deprioritises the repairs and garment care that would extend the life of many denim items.
Are denim brands actually doing anything about these issues? We’ve reviewed Good On You’s ratings of the largest denim brands today to find out and, well, the answers aren’t pretty.
The largest denim brands are (mostly) the worst
At the time of writing, most of the world’s largest denim producers—which dominate a significant portion of the industry’s supply chains—are still failing people, the planet, and animals. Our ratings are scored across a five-point scale, ranging from “We Avoid” through to “Great”, and unfortunately almost all of these denim brands received our two lowest ratings. Take a look below:
- Wrangler—“Not Good Enough”
- Lee—“Not Good Enough”
- Diesel—“Not Good Enough”
- Calvin Klein—“Not Good Enough”
- Tommy Hilfiger—“Not Good Enough”
- AG Jeans—“Not Good Enough”
- True Religion—“We Avoid”
- A.P.C—“We Avoid”
- Pepe Jeans—“We Avoid”
And when you consider just how many people on the planet wear jeans on a daily basis—and how many of those might’ve been made by the companies listed above—it’s not hard to understand how the industry has ended up in such a sorry state.
The exception to this is Levi’s, which receives our middling “It’s A Start” rating. But is Levi’s sustainable? In our most recent rating review, we found that the brand is taking some positive steps. It has implemented a biodiversity policy, and recycles fabric offcuts, but despite calls, it still hasn’t joined the Pakistan Safety Accord, and it still uses leather and wool in its clothes. This rating signifies a step in the right direction, but there is still work to be done.
Levi’s is perhaps the best known denim company in the world, and to see that is moving forward—albeit slowly—could help to encourage other brands to do the same.
What are the best sustainable denim brands?
The reality is that those with the most power to change the denim industry aren’t pulling their weight, and while that might seem a little bleak, there is hope. Below, we’ve listed some of the denim brands rated “Good” and “Great” against our world-leading methodology, that are doing the work to foster a more sustainable denim industry.
