Knowing how conventional cotton is grown and denim is made, we’re out to change the industry.
Patagonia® Denim uses only 100% organic cotton grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. An innovative dyeing process enables us to dramatically reduce water, energy and chemical use and produce less carbon dioxide than conventional denim dyeing.Fair Trade Certified™ for sewing,Patagonia Denim is the way denim should be made.
Innovative Dye Process
Most denim producers dye their fabric with synthetic indigo on huge production lines that use a lot of water and energy. Indigo doesn’t adhere readily to denim, which makes the dyeing, rinsing and garmentwashing process resource intensive. We once used indigo to color Patagonia Denim, but now we employ an innovative dye process that colors it with sulfur dyestuffs that bond more easily to denim fabric. This results in much shorter production lines that use 84% less water, 30% less energy and emit 25% less CO2 than conventional synthetic indigo denim dyeing. And because we don’t sandblast, bleach or stonewash our denim to make it look worn, we avoid the serious social and environmental downsides of doing so.
Organic Cotton
Cotton is a natural fiber, but conventional cotton is one of the dirtiest crops on the planet. That’s why since 1996 we’ve used only organic cotton farmed without the usual mix of synthetic pesticides, herbicides,defoliants and fertilizers. The chemicals used in conventional cotton agriculture can pollute water and poison the air.Organic cotton agriculture uses non-GMO seeds and leverages nature-based solutions to manage pests and build healthy soil. We use only organically grown cotton in all of our cotton products, including our denim jeans.
Fair Trade Certified™ Sewing
Garment workers are among the world’s lowest paid. Fair Trade Certified clothing can make a difference. For each piece of Fair Trade Certified
clothing, we pay a premium workers can use to improve their communities and elevate their standard of living. Together, the workers decide how to use the money. They might choose to build a school or a health center, create a scholarship or take the money as a bonus. Fair Trade is one of the ways we’re trying to better the lives of all the people who make Patagonia® products.Our denim jeans are Fair Trade Certified for sewing.
INFO: Patagonia®
