01.04.16
It’s a new year, which is always the best time for new resolutions, so here goes: I will wear, but not wash, my favorite pair of jeans in 2016. Revolting? Disgusting? Lazy? Yeah, you can check all three boxes. That’s okay; I’m saving the environment.
World leaders met in Paris last year to discuss global emission and other issues, and corporations took the opportunity to tout their own efforts to reduce their environmental footprints, while putting the blame on consumers. For example, Unilever estimates that customers are responsible for 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its products, compared to just 21% for the raw materials used to make them.
“It is far easier to get a consumer to switch their purchase behavior from a less sustainable product to a more sustainable product than it is to influence how people use the products,” said Sally Uren, head of Forum for the Future, a non-profit that works with business and government on sustainability issues.
Chip Bergh, chief executive of Levi Strauss, says he hardly ever washes his jeans, adding that consumers are responsible for 50% of the water used in the lifecycle of the average pair.
“I know that sounds totally disgusting but believe me, it can be done,” he told Reuters. “You can spot clean it, you can air dry it. It’s fine. I have yet to get a skin disease,” he joked last year.
Actually, Chip, I think it’s pretty disgusting that Levi Strauss needs that much water to create a pair of pants, but I digress.
This isn’t the first time the idea of not washing my pants has come to the fore. Last year, I read a report that consumers often went an entire week without washing their denim trousers. Initially, I was appalled, but when I raised the topic with the younger generation in the lunchroom, they all heartily endorsed the model as a way to keep jeans looking good.
Doing good and looking good are often mutually exclusive. So, let’s see how this year-long experiment turns out. I will post photos of my jeans on Instagram (www.instagram.com/happimagazine/) each month so that you can judge for yourself how my pants hold up throughout 2016. For now, be sure to turn to p. 47 in this issue to read about the newest ideas in getting clothes clean. But if Chip Bergh and my lunchroom cohorts are right, detergent makers may be spending more time developing refreshers, rather than detergents, in 2016.
World leaders met in Paris last year to discuss global emission and other issues, and corporations took the opportunity to tout their own efforts to reduce their environmental footprints, while putting the blame on consumers. For example, Unilever estimates that customers are responsible for 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its products, compared to just 21% for the raw materials used to make them.
“It is far easier to get a consumer to switch their purchase behavior from a less sustainable product to a more sustainable product than it is to influence how people use the products,” said Sally Uren, head of Forum for the Future, a non-profit that works with business and government on sustainability issues.
Chip Bergh, chief executive of Levi Strauss, says he hardly ever washes his jeans, adding that consumers are responsible for 50% of the water used in the lifecycle of the average pair.
“I know that sounds totally disgusting but believe me, it can be done,” he told Reuters. “You can spot clean it, you can air dry it. It’s fine. I have yet to get a skin disease,” he joked last year.
Actually, Chip, I think it’s pretty disgusting that Levi Strauss needs that much water to create a pair of pants, but I digress.
This isn’t the first time the idea of not washing my pants has come to the fore. Last year, I read a report that consumers often went an entire week without washing their denim trousers. Initially, I was appalled, but when I raised the topic with the younger generation in the lunchroom, they all heartily endorsed the model as a way to keep jeans looking good.
Doing good and looking good are often mutually exclusive. So, let’s see how this year-long experiment turns out. I will post photos of my jeans on Instagram (www.instagram.com/happimagazine/) each month so that you can judge for yourself how my pants hold up throughout 2016. For now, be sure to turn to p. 47 in this issue to read about the newest ideas in getting clothes clean. But if Chip Bergh and my lunchroom cohorts are right, detergent makers may be spending more time developing refreshers, rather than detergents, in 2016.