They may be an essential piece of everyday clothing, but scientists now say that even a simple pair of jeans could be harmful to the environment.
Wearing a pair of fast fashion jeans just once generates 2.5kg of CO2, the equivalent of driving a petrol car 6.4 miles.
Scientists from Guangdong University of Technology analyzed the life cycle of a pair of Levi’s jeans from the cultivation of cotton to its eventual disposal.
They found that some jeans were worn only seven times, earning them the “fast fashion” classification, and produced 11 times more CO2 than jeans that were worn more frequently.
Dr Ya Zhou, lead author of the study, says: “The humble wardrobe staple, a pair of jeans, has a significant impact on the environment.”
Researchers say jeans sold in the fast fashion market produce 11 times more CO2 per wear than traditional alternatives.
To see how fast fashion affects the environment, researchers analyzed the life cycle of a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans from raw cotton to disposal by incineration.
Over the life of the product, researchers found that fast fashion jeans had a 95 to 99 percent larger carbon footprint than traditional fashion jeans, which are worn 120 times on average.
The biggest difference between the two styles of consumption is that clothing sold for fast fashion is transported faster and worn less frequently before being thrown away.
Dr Zhou told MailOnline: ‘Changing fashion trends induce people to buy clothes frequently and wear them for a short time to follow the latest trends.
“This overconsumption has led to a significant increase in resource and energy consumption in the clothing industry by accelerating the entire clothing supply chain, including production, logistics, consumption and disposal processes, thus exacerbating the impact of the clothing industry in climate change”.
Researchers estimate that a pair of jeans produced for the traditional fashion market produces 0.22 kg of CO2.
This is higher than previous estimates, as researchers believe that jeans are worn and washed less frequently than previously thought.
However, of that total carbon footprint, 48 percent is due to washing, drying and ironing jeans after purchase.
Researchers have analyzed the lifetime carbon emissions of a single pair of Levi’s 501 Original Fit women’s jeans. They found that using them once was equivalent in emissions to driving 6.4 miles.
Meanwhile, researchers estimate that jeans sold in fast fashion produce 11 times more emissions.
Because they are only worn seven times on average, these jeans produce 2.5kg of CO2e per wear, despite requiring very little energy to wash and dry over their lifetime.
Unlike traditional fashion, the vast majority of fast fashion emissions come from the production of jeans and fibers, accounting for 70 percent of total emissions.
The remaining emissions are largely created by transporting jeans from factories to consumers, accounting for 21 percent of total emissions.
Dr. Zhou explains: “To achieve rapid response (to fashion trends) of the global supply chain, the fast fashion model prefers transportation modes with shorter logistics times, such as cross-border transportation by air instead by sea”.
Because the transportation of fast fashion consumes much more energy, its transportation produced a staggering 59 times more CO2.
Most of the carbon emissions related to making jeans come from cotton production and clothing manufacturing in textile factories (file photo)
Globally, the fast fashion industry was worth approximately $64.5bn (£51.25bn) in 2020 and is expected to grow to $95bn (£75.4bn) by 2030.
According to researchers, fast fashion brands launch new collections 25 times faster than traditional fashion brands, leading to shorter fashion cycles and hyperconsumption.
This leads to the creation of massive amounts of waste and huge levels of pollution.
The fashion industry is believed to produce 10 percent of all global emissions and approximately 92 million tonnes of waste each year.
Much of that waste is sent to countries like Guatemala, Chile and Ghana, where huge landfills are now causing an “environmental and social emergency.”
Fortunately, researchers say there are several ways to significantly reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.
Much of fast fashion waste is sent to countries like Chile, where it ends up in huge landfills that can be seen from space (pictured).
The study found that buying clothes from offline thrift stores reduced the carbon emissions of a pair of jeans by 90 percent.
Dr Zhou says: ‘Through second-hand trading, people can sell different or unused clothes and make a profit.
“In China, growing interest in environmental protection and sustainability among Chinese millennials and Generation Z is driving the growth of the second-hand trade industry.”
Based on data from American clothing reseller Buffalo Exchange, researchers found that jeans passed through second-hand stores were worn 127 times over their lifetime.
The researchers also suggested that recycling jeans or using a clothing rental service like Rent the Runway can reduce the carbon footprint per wear by 85 and 89 percent respectively.