Blue jeans manufacturing produces a path of heavy consumption, depleting Earth’s water and energy resources, generating pollution, and contributing to climate change. Although the production of jeans requires a lot of water, the majority of the world’s cotton crop is cultivated in semiarid regions that require irrigation and pesticides. As climate change worsens, irrigation-dependent cotton farming and ecological disaster collide, with the Aral Sea’s ecological death serving as a great example and warning. Along its production chain, a single pair of cotton jeans uses between 10,000 and 20,000 litres (2,600-5,300 gallons) of water.
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The fashion sector has failed to make considerable progress toward sustainability, with organic cotton accounting for barely 1% of total sales. By 2012, the Aral Sea, previously home to 24 fish species, had shrunk to 10% of its original size. A few fashion businesses are making changes to their operations to make them more sustainable, as well as investing in technology to lessen the socio-environmental implications of jeans manufacture. However, much more work has to be done.
