Italy tries to enhance consumers’ awareness on sustainable purchases

Jeans are among the most popular items people wear around the world. Not everyone knows though that jeans manufacture is not a very eco-friendly process. Cotton is a quite complex fabric to retrieve, which requires a great number of hydric resources. Moreover, transforming cotton into denim and then in those jeans sold in shops requires a lot of efforts and passages. The dye used has a massive environmental impact so as other chemicals used and the whitening process.

Shopalike – the Italian e-commerce platform connecting users with more than 690 shops online – has recently elaborated an infographic clearly explaining the jeans manufacturing process and some suggestions for consumers on how to change their habits and make them more eco-friendly.

Some of the tips include the materials control (opting for organic cotton, recycling or renewable materials), finding a list of transparent brands (through apps like Notmystyle or Rankabrand where users can find a list of sustainable brands), and buying local products (whose transport is reduced and involves a minimal amount of CO₂). With regard to the tint, consumers are highly encouraged to opt for eco-friendly dyes, such as vegetable ones, water-free ones, natural stabilizing agents (Chitosan) and nitrogen tints.

Another suggestion by Shopalike is to wash our jeans as little as possible. If it is really necessary to wash them, experts suggest to hand wash them in cold water, which will help preserving them.

Last but not least, Shopalike recommends to give our old jeans a second life, reselling them to op-shops, even online like on the app Wallapop. In fact, statistics reveal that only 7.3% of consumers keep their own jeans for a period between 8 and 12 years. It would be a remarkable virtuous practice for people to keep their jeans and – when they get tired – to sell or donate them to those who are in need and happy to give those jeans a new beginning.