It’s a fair assumption to make that we all have at least one pair of jeans in our wardrobe. Now, did you know on average it takes 10,000 litres to make a single pair of jeans. If that wasn’t bad enough, that’s 93, Billion cubic metres of water a year !
Heritage Denim brand Wrangler have set an ambitious new goal to halve Its Water usage by 2030.
A global icon in jeanswear and casual apparel, Wrangler plans to expand the scope of its water conservation efforts with a new global sustainability goal: a 50 percent reduction in water usage by 2030. The updated goal targets the fibre production, fabric construction, and product finishing phases of the denim supply chain, which encompass more than 95 percent of the total water used throughout the production of a pair of jeans.
In April, Wrangler announced it had surpassed its original 2020 goal by saving over seven billion liters of water in the product finishing phase of its denim products since 2008 – equivalent to the daily drinking water needs of almost four billion people.
“We’re learning from our past successes in water conservation and expanding the scope of our efforts to be more inclusive of some of the biggest water impacts in our supply chain,” said Tom Waldron, EVP, Global Brand President, Wrangler. “Our new water goal is ambitious, and necessary. New technologies and practices will empower Wrangler to make progress and advance the industry forward in water conservation measures.”
To realise the new goal, Wrangler is collaborating with the Transformers Foundation to complete a comprehensive water balance study. The Transformers Foundation was formed as a non-profit organisation. It aims to be the central point for the Denim Industry, working at different levels (educational, collaboration with other organizations to cover all social, eco-tox and technical topics, and also generate new interest from the market on a really high added value type of Fashion). Through this collaboration it will analyse the denim industry’s water consumption by production phase. This study will address the inconsistency of water usage data in the denim supply chain globally and aims to provide reliable industry average benchmarks that will be offered publicly and usable by all members of the industry. Wrangler will use the water intensity baseline generated from the study to calculate the water savings made from new technological innovations in the pursuit of the new water goal.
“A renewed sustainability target creates an organizational focus that enables Wrangler to create meaningful change through the conservation of water resources. Because water is a shared resource, its conservation is also a shared responsibility,” said Roian Atwood, Senior Director, Global Sustainable Business, Wrangler. “Working with the Transformers Foundation will help accelerate sustainability collaboration in our industry.”
In addition to its work in the finishing phase, Wrangler will align the new goal with two other existing projects critical in the denim production process: Indigood Foam Dyeing and water efficiency measures in cotton production. In 2019, Wrangler became the first brand to offer denim dyed with foam, which uses 100 percent less water than conventionally-dyed denim. Prior to that in 2017, the brand launched the Wrangler Science and Conservation Program, an alliance of agriculture industry experts, pioneering farmers and nonprofit partners, which aims to help build a more resilient and regenerative cotton supply.
