How Levi's cottonised hemp is driving its sustainable commitments

Levi Strauss & Co has been using the water-saving ‘cottonised hemp’ which requires less water and fewer pesticides in several of Levi’s WellThread collections. The American apparel company has continued to encourage innovation on the path to embrace a circular economy in order to reduce the resource consumption, according to a report.

 

Levi Strauss & Co has been using the water-saving 'cottonised hemp' which requires less water and fewer pesticides in several of Levi's WellThread collections. The American apparel company has continued to encourage innovation on the path to embrace a circular economy in order to reduce the resource consumption, according to a report. #

In 2019, Levi’s had published its 2025 Water Action Strategy, which leverages the best and most current publicly available data sources to address water stress in the supply chain. In order to expand its water stewardship efforts beyond the factory walls of the suppliers, the company introduced a key fibre innovation, ‘cottonised hemp’, which is much less water-intensive than conventional cotton production and has the added benefit of relying on rainwater instead of irrigated water that could be used for other productive purposes.

 

Levi Strauss & Co has been using the water-saving 'cottonised hemp' which requires less water and fewer pesticides in several of Levi's WellThread collections. The American apparel company has continued to encourage innovation on the path to embrace a circular economy in order to reduce the resource consumption, according to a report. #

“Our integration of hemp in blends and through our cottonisation process presents an opportunity to use a less water-intensive crop that also requires fewer chemicals and less land use for cultivation,” Levi’s stated in a sustainable report for 2020 released last week.

 

Levi Strauss & Co has been using the water-saving 'cottonised hemp' which requires less water and fewer pesticides in several of Levi's WellThread collections. The American apparel company has continued to encourage innovation on the path to embrace a circular economy in order to reduce the resource consumption, according to a report. #

Moreover, the company launched a marketing campaign this year, ‘Buy Better, Wear Longer’, that exhorts consumers to be more intentional about purchasing decisions and emphasises the denim leader’s commitment to getting more sustainable across its operations.