Printable version from NI Global Issues for Learners of English:
"Green" jeans - can you buy them?
A few companies sell jeans that are made from organically grown cotton (cotton that is grown without using chemicals). These companies are mainly in the USA.
Hemp
A few other companies sell jeans that are made from hemp, a plant which grows easily and does not need pesticides.
Unfortunately, hemp has a bad name in many countries in the North because it is the plant that marijuana comes from. Of course the material used for making the jeans does not contain any active ingredients. One company, Hemp Union, has a label on its jeans that says:
"If you try to smoke the garment you will get nothing but an awful headache. Save the Planet."
Sadly, however, the company admits that its jeans are made in China, where most clothes for export are made by sweated labour. The jeans they sell cost around $100 per pair; a company spokesperson said that it would be possible to make fairly traded jeans, but they would cost more than $300, and so he didn't think that people would buy them.
It seems that completely "green" jeans are not a reality - at least, not yet. But some jeans we choose to buy may be better than others.
This information was taken from the keynote article by David Ransom in the June 1998 issue of the New Internationalist.
© 1998: the New Internationalist
Last Modified: 22 Sept 1999