At first, jean cloth was made from a mixture of things. However, in the 18th century as trade, slave labor, and cotton plantations increased, jean cloth was made completely from cotton. Workers wore it because the material was very strong and it did not wear out easily. It was usually dyed with indigo, a dye taken from plants in the Americas and India, which made jean cloth a dark blue color.
1853: a man named Leob Strauss left his home in New York and moved to San Francisco, where he started a wholesale business, supplying clothes. Strauss later changed his name from Leob to Levi. A big problem with the miners' clothes ( the gold miners wanted clothes that were strong and did not tear easily) were the pockets, which easily tore away from the jeans. A man called Jacob Davis had the idea of using metal rives to hold the pockets and the jeans together so that they wouldn't tear. Davis wanted to patent his idea, but he didn't have enough money.
1872: Davis wrote to Levi and offered Strauss a deal if he would pay for the patent. Strauss accepted.
1873: The first riveted clothing was made and sold.
When one of the largest producers of jeans in the world, Levi Strauss & Co., announced it will produce two million pairs of jeans made of cotton grown in a sustainable way, is that something is moving. Levi Strauss & Co. says that drives this new range to help reduce the environmental impact of the company and improve the living conditions of cotton farmers. But there is no doubt that, beyond potential business initiatives, we are consumers that with our choice, we determine the way forward for large corporations.
Experience Levi's will help us understand where the problem is. The American company started this project in 2007, after a life cycle assessment of products to determine the environmental impact of a single pair of jeans. Analyzed from the growth of cotton to make the 'denim', the unique fabric denim, including design, production and use, the end consumer. They think that the largest impact derives from continuous flushing by the owner throughout the life of jeans. This must be what caused the greatest impact on the environment. But they were wrong. Actually, it was during the growth of cotton cultivation that had the greatest environmental impact.
The cultivation of cotton requires large amounts of water. During the growth of this plant, used 49% of water consumed in the entire life cycle of jeans. In addition, they also found that they use very expensive and contaminant pesticides. Finally, it became apparent the forced labor and child labor still occurs in many producing countries in this regard.
Anna i Maria
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