Wearing jeans is bad for Earth, study finds — and yes, even just once (only 6.79 years left)

NY Post ^ | 4/05/24 | Asia Grace

[Libloather]

These bottoms are getting a bum rap.

Bootcut, low-rise, skinny or straight — jeans reign supreme as a stylish staple in most wardrobes worldwide.

For decades, denim designs have graced the dapper derrière likes of Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Taylor Swift and Kanye West.

The haute timelessness of the togs notwithstanding, recent research from Guangdong University of Technology found that wearing a pair of fast-fashion jeans just once creates a whopping 2.50 kg of carbon emissions. The environmental wear-and-tear of the pants is equivalent to driving 6.4 miles in an average gasoline-powered car.

“This study took jeans as an example to reveal the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption and its additional climate impacts compared to traditional fashion,” wrote the authors of the new report, set for publishing in May 2024.

“Jeans production and cross-broad transportation contributed 91 % of the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption,” added the experts.

And they’re not just pulling your leg.

To determine the CO2 effects, scientists followed the life cycle of a pair of jeans that were quickly produced, shipped, worn, washed and discarded after about seven uses.

The stages are all part of speedy sequences that most modern clothes follow owing to the increasingly buzzy “fast-fashion” trend. The movement sees retailers such as Shein, Zara, BooHoo and Forever 21 using an excess of resources and energy to crank out cutesy swag at accelerated rates.

It’s a hurried process to answer the growing demand of chronic shopaholics who want the latest and greatest looks at low costs.

[oldasrocks]

The real problem is washing them too much. It is OK when they stand in the corner by themselves. If you call them and they walk to you it is time to wash them.

[scrabblehack]

Maybe Taylor Swift...they could probably auction hers off for thousands though.

[Bob434]

True- we probably aren’t even producing enough for life to really flourish

[higgmeister]

Yep.   At different periods, things have changed.   Massive Buffalo herds and the Cedars of Lebanon, without mentioning the dinosaurs.