Your blue Jeans is hazard for our blue planet

Today more than ever it is important to pay attention to what we buy and choose products that take care of the environment, even in the brands of jeans and denim clothing that we carry.

Let's remember that fashion is one of the industries that has the greatest ecological impact and under this premise. A single pair of cotton jeans consumes between 10,000 and 20,000 litres (2,600-5,300 gallons) of water throughout its supply chain. Add to that large doses of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, dyes, and other chemicals that pollute soils and bodies of water, affecting wildlife and people, plus significant energy expenditures that result in high greenhouse gas emissions.

Aral Sea cotton catastrophe: A warning to the world

The history of jeans begins with cotton: the vegetable fiber and raw material for the production of denim fabric. Each kilogram of cotton requires between 8,000 and 10,000 liters of water to grow, or between 960 and 1,200 gallons per pound. That figure reaches more than 22,000 liters per kilo (2,600 gallons per pound) in some regions of India.

Cotton's intensive water needs may be sustainable in agricultural areas that receive large amounts of rainfall, but interestingly, most cotton-producing areas in the world today receive uncertain rainfall, with the crop heavily irrigated by surface water and underground, which often places extreme demands on streams, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, and aquifers.

Researchers believe that cotton was independently domesticated in various parts of the world, including South Asia, the Middle East, and Mesoamerica. However, it is thought that one of the first areas where the domestication of cotton occurred is the north coast of Peru. The region's native variety, Gossypium barbadense, is also known as Pima cotton, and Splitstoser notes that that strain has become the backbone of modern hybrids in the cotton industry.

Extracting excessive amounts of water from such sources, a common practice in cotton-producing countries has already led to the destruction of at least one major ecosystem: the Aral Sea in Central Asia.

Located primarily in semi-arid Uzbekistan, one of the world's top 10 cotton producers, the Aral Sea has suffered from increasing desertification since the 1950s, when it was the world's fourth largest lake. Thereafter, the Soviet Union began aggressively diverting the rivers that feed the huge inland body of water to irrigate pesticide-soaked crops, which eventually included 1.47 million hectares (3.63 million acres) of cropland. cotton.

How much water is spent in the process of creating the garment

The test was carried out on 666-gram pants, made with 1.5 meters and a half of fabric. Approximately 8,000 litres of water per garment are used in the production of cotton fabric.

In addition, it is estimated that this part of the process is responsible for 10% of pesticides and about 25% of insecticides used worldwide annually.

In the production of the pants, it is estimated that 2,000 more litres of water are used per garment and according to the investigation, 13 kg of carbon dioxide and 10 kg of dyes and chemicals are produced, which end up in an uncontrolled release into the environment.

But those figures only refer to the manufacturing of the jeans. The investigation indicated that a single pair of pants during its entire use cycle (approximately four years) uses about 11,500 litres of water to carry out the washing process.

Irrigation and climate change on a collision course

Cotton is currently grown in about 70 countries and is a major source of livelihood for around 50 million family units, most in developing nations. India and China are the world’s largest producers, with 50% of production; followed by the U.S., Brazil and Pakistan. Together, these nations control around 80% of the global cotton supply.

Today, cotton cultivation methods remain similar the world over, requiring massive and unsustainable water use and pesticide consumption, with national regulatory policies failing to keep pace as irrigation demands grow due to increasing extreme weather, including heat and drought.

Embrapa, Brazil’s agricultural research agency, observes that: “A large part of the world’s cotton production is carried out under irrigation. It is an essential practice to obtain high yields. Its main advantages are greater efficiency in the use of fertilizers and the absence of crop loss risk due to droughts.”

In India, most cotton plantations are irrigated with groundwater, competing for use with local communities who rely on aquifers for drinking water and food crops, even as the nation’s monsoons grow more unreliable. Cotton cultivation also consumes 54% of all the pesticides used in the country, although it represents just 7% of total crop production.

In Pakistan, cotton production is also highly dependent on irrigation and back-breaking labour. Small farmers with properties smaller than 5 hectares (12.5 acres), represent 86% of the total number of producers, and during the cotton season, they already work regularly in temperatures between 40 and 45° Celsius (104-113° Fahrenheit). Climate change-induced drought and higher temperatures are also increasing there, threatening a crisis among smallholders.

petrochemical dyes

Once mature, the cotton is harvested and separated from seeds and debris, then placed in a machine that straightens it into long fibers. These cotton chips are then placed in spinning machines that twist and stretch them to form yarn. These large rolls of thread are then run through a dyeing machine and soaked in chemically synthesized indigo, the signature colour jean wearers know so well.

In ancient times, this dye was extracted from plants of the Indigofera genus, used to dye fabrics for at least 6,000 years. But after the indigo formula was discovered in 1883, it didn't take long for the German chemical manufacturer BASF to develop an artificial version. "Synthetic indigo is sold all over the world, especially in China," the company's website says. Costing a fraction of natural dye, synthetic indigo dominates the world market today.

After dyeing with indigo, the yarn is woven on large industrial looms, and the cloth is shaped into a pattern of parallel diagonal lines of blue and white threads. Before it is finished, the denim must also go through physical-chemical treatments that, in addition to dyeing the fabric blue, minimize shrinkage, soften it or give it a fashionable worn look. Strong acids and lyes are also used. Many dyes and treatments contain highly toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and chromium; Nitrogen azo dyes contain carcinogenic amines.

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