Instead of the usual (non-biodegradable) PVC that most high-street retailers use, the brand uses an Italian PU microfiber called Mycro which has a similar structure to natural leather and suede and holds the EU Ecolabel.
In addition, the brand’s strive for innovative but sustainable sourcing/production has led them to using Italian cotton weaved with recycled rubber, cork, paper and plant-based polymers. They have also newly introduced EcoStone into some of their AW17 designs- a thin natural stone overlaid on a cotton backing.
Lastly, Pinatex is a new vegan leather alternative which they first used in their SS17 collection and have continued to use.
The textile is non-woven and made from Pineapple leaf fibres. Because the fibres are a by-product of the pineapple harvest, no extra water, fertilizers or land is required to produce it.
Levi’s may not be a vegan brand but it has developed as a company in using different practices to promote a more sustainable industry as well as using their platform to raise awareness and give tips to consumer’s on how they can also make small lifestyle
changes to live a more sustainable day-to-day life.
The brand has become more conscious with the amount of water that is used (and wasted) to produce and source garments- it takes approximately 1,800 gallons of water just to grow enough cotton to make one pair of jeans.
Coming up with new finishes that require less water and re-using water in the production process are two of the ways which the brand has pushed forward in order to cut down on the amount of water used and there are 20 other water-saving finish techniques used by the brand to date.
The brand states that they share these practices with other companies in order to encourage a more sustainable industry.
Levi’s ‘Water<Less’ products take up 40% of the brand’s products and they aim to expand this collection and push their other water-saving techniques even further. To this day, they have ‘saved more than 1.8 billion litres and recycled more than 129 million litres of water’- which is pretty impressive.
Customers are able to shop the products which have been made specifically using water-saving techniques and are also advised to do things such as washing their denim only when really necessary, to rain-wash their cars and, the common, having a shower instead of a bath.