In some ways jeans are the ultimate in sustainable fashion. Most people have a pair that they treasure, they wear them constantly regardless of the seasons and the older they get the more they value them. This is perhaps why you see so many in vintage shops. They are almost a kind of anti fashion, although there is a little variation in the shapes and colours that are in fashion at any one time, most people have at least one pair of classic blue jeans that they wear loads.

It is such a shame that the denim industry is so unsustainable in many ways. From pesticides and water used to grow the cotton to the dying and finishing of denim, there are many well documented issues around both sustainability and ethics. It is almost ironic that in an attempt to make a new pair of jeans look old and well loved, the denim industry creates even more issues. The sand used to give denim that distressed look also gives the factory workers lung disease.

But there is an answer!

Organic jeans

Organic cotton is not only better for the environment but it is better for the farmers too. They can build a more sustainable livelihood free from the poverty cycle that accompanies the need to buy more and more pesticides as the pests on conventional cotton crops become more and more resistant. Organic jeans are usually made from organic cotton but bamboo is also a good chemical free alternative.

Monkee Genes are one of the most well known organic jeans brands making a wide variety of styles including their very popular skinny jeans.