On average, nearly a pound of chemicals goes into every pair of jeans, according to Yafa. Regular denim is dyed with petroleum-based dyes that don’t easily break down in wastewater-treatment facilities. To finish jeans, making them look worn and soft, as if they’ve been worn by people who work in mines or ride motorcycles, requires a number of toxic bleaches. And rinsing these “finishers” from the garment uses on average 10.5 gallons of water per garment, says Tony Rodriguez, owner of Blue River Denim Laundry, a finishing house based in Los Angeles that works with Levi’s and Banana Republic.
bigi
if people stop buying them so much, it’d save a lot of those..