Water<less JeansWater<less Jeans

BORN IN 2011. STILL SAVING WATER.

WATER<LESS®

Unless you’re buying raw denim, your jeans have likely undergone a finishing process. It’s the last but most crucial step in denim production, giving jeans a broken-in look and feel from day one. Unfortunately, finished denim uses a lot of water. We’re changing that.

In 2011, we established more than 20 different Water<Less® manufacturing techniques, which help us produce the same jeans you love while reducing our water usage. So far, we’ve saved more than 3 billion liters of water (and recycled another 5 billion liters).

OUR GOAL: BY 2021, 80% OF LEVI'S® JEANS AND TRUCKER JACKETS WILL BE MADE WITH WATER<LESS® TECHNIQUES.

Jean Jacket and OceanJean Jacket and Ocean

SO WHAT DOES A WATER<LESS® TECHNIQUE LOOK LIKE?

Instead of washing denim with fabric softener to create that worn-in feel, we might tumble jeans with bottle caps and golf balls, taking the water out of the wash altogether — and saving 96% of it during the finishing process.
OceanOcean

SAVING WATER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS

That’s why we invited other apparel companies to our Eureka Innovation Lab — so they could learn how to implement our Water<Less® practices in their own factories.
Open field with a river and hillsOpen field with a river and hills

WE’RE ALSO FIGHTING THE GLOBAL WATER CRISIS ON OTHER FRONTS.

By 2030, an estimated 45 cities worldwide (that’s nearly 470 million people) will be categorised as high-stress — which means the demand for water is higher than what’s available. So we’re moving from a global to a local approach when it comes to our manufacturing facilities, adjusting our water usage in cities where h2o is harder to come by.

OUR 2025

WATER ACTION STRATEGY

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN

One pair of jeans can use up to 3,800 liters of water in its lifetime, and 23% of the water used during that cycle comes from how you care for your denim. Here are a couple of ways you can help save water: 1. Wash your denim less. You’ll preserve the color, fabric and a lot of water if you wait longer to fire up the washing machine. 2. If you do wash them, make sure it’s always on cold to save energy. 3. Between washes, you can hang your jeans in the sun to kill bacteria.

Black pair of Levi's® Jeans hanging down.Black pair of Levi's® Jeans hanging down.

We’ll never stop looking for more ways to help change the way the world uses water.