We offer no shipping and no returns - all for free ;-) - because we’re not actually selling anything… But what about actual shipping?
Shipping isn’t really free
It is incredibly convenient (and let’s be honest, fun) to look at clothes online, choose a pair of jeans and have them delivered directly to us, and receive them within a few days or even a few hours.
We may think that we are getting free shipping - but it isn’t really free. Not only are the shipping costs often hidden in the price of merchandise, it’s the environment that is paying the true cost: with the rise in online shopping, we are contributing to climate change and harming those around us with air pollution and traffic congestion.
We offer no shipping and no returns - all for free ;-) - because we’re not actually selling anything… But what about actual returns?
Returns cost us too...
Around 15 to 40 percent of online purchases are returned. We’ve all shopped online, received the item and decided it wasn’t the right fit. It’s unworn and in perfect condition. The company will just list it and it will find a new home in no time. Right?
Not quite… many companies just don’t have the technology and ability to handle all the subtleties of returned goods (especially when it comes to clothing), so it is generally most profitable for them to sell them cheaply to discounters, who end up shipping, driving and flying the items around the globe, or even worse, trucking them to the dump.
A study estimates that 5 billion pounds of waste is generated through returns each year.
Perhaps something to consider before making that impulse buy online.
Great question. Each of our Dream Jeans is named after incredible activists working hard to protect people and the environement.
The Eva, named after Eva Tolage
Eva Tolage is a young activist from Tanzania. In 2015, she launched the #StandWithEva campaign to call on leaders to provide clean water for her school and community. People around the world - including Barack Obama - supported her campaign, with more than 150 000 signing her petition. A year after launching #StandWithEva, a clean water supply was installed near her school - a hopeful step in improving sanitation for her community. “When we use our power together, our voices become even more powerful and can make change for the better,” she says. “If we stand up and make our voices heard, we can hold our leaders to account on promises they have made to us.”
Read more about Eva here andhere.
The Greta, named after Greta Thunberg
The Hattie, named after Hattie Canty
Hattie Canty (1933 - 2012) was an African-American labor activist in Las Vegas, Nevada and is considered one of the greatest strike leaders in U.S. Labor History. She fought to ensure that all workers would receive living wages in order to support themselves and their families. She helped integrate the Culinary Workers Union and helped minorities attain higher level jobs. Speaking about her work on labour organising, she said "I have enjoyed the struggle. I'm not the only Hattie. There's lots of Hatties out there.”
Read more about Hattie here.
The Lucy, named after Lucy Parsons
The Melati, named after Melati Wijsen
The Payal, named after Payal Jangid
17 year-old Payal Jangid escaped child slavery in India and became a children's rights advocate. She began by going door-to-door in her small village of Hinsla in Rajasthan, to talk to people about the importance of education. She is now the leader of her village’s Child’s Parliament, which advocates for girls to be treated equally with boys and fights to end child marriage and slavery. When she was just 12, she met Barack and Michelle Obama when they visited India in 2015, and was chosen as the jury member of the World Children's Prize that awarded Malala Yousafzai in 2014.
Read more about Payal here.
The Phyllis, named after Phyllis Omido
Phyllis Omido is environmental activist from Kenya and and co-founder of the center for justice governance and environmental action, an organization that advocates for the right to a clean and safe environment.
'After discovering that her own breast milk was contaminated with lead and making her baby sick—and realizing that her child wasn’t the only one in the community suffering from lead poisoning—Phyllis rallied the community in Mombasa to try to shut down the battery smelting plant that was exposing people to dangerous chemicals' (source). She organized demonstrations, protests, and letter-writing campaigns, and educated the people about Lead (Pb) poisoning, human rights, the right to life, dignity and a clean environment. Community pressure finally led to the factory’s closure in 2014.
In 2015, Omido was awarded the 2015 Goldman Prize, the largest in the world for grassroots environmental activists.
Read more about Phyllis here.
The Rosina, named after Rosina Tucker
Love the clothes you already own.
Wear the denim you already own for as long as possible. When your jeans do (inevitably) start to show signs of wear, consider bringing them in for mending. Or learn how to mend yourself.
If you’re worried you’ll get bored re-wearing your clothes and want some style inspiration, theseInstagramaccounts focusing on wearing the clothes we already own are a great place to start, and so are the hashtags #OOOTD (Old Outfit of the Day) and #gridrepeater.
Air your dirty laundry.
Literally.
Try to wash your jeans less frequently. If there’s just a bit of dirt (or a pasta sauce stain) in a specific area, it’s best to spot treat them. You can just scrub with some soap and water, using a wet cloth or even an old toothbrush. For extra tough stains, try using a baking soda paste.
When you do need to wash them completely, Levis recommends doing this only every ten wears or so in order to keep them in good shape. Be sure to wash them inside out in cold water to avoid shrinkage and fading.
Avoid drying them in the tumble dryer. This actually breaks down the fibres, and makes the jeans more fragile. The best option is to hang them to dry.
Lean more about these issues through these brilliant ressources:
FILMS
Before The Flood, Fisher Stevens (2016)
RiverBlue, David McIlvride & Roger Williams (2017)
The True Cost, Andrew Morgan (2015)
BOOKS
No Logo, Naomi Klein (1999)
Overdressed, Elizabeth Cline (2012)
The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth Cline (2019)
The Golden Thread, Kassia St Clair (2018)
To Die For, Lucy Siegle (2011)
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS
Aja Barber, writer, stylist and consultant working on the intersections of fashion and sustainability
Christina Dean, CEO of Redress
Emma Slade Edmondson, Sustainable Fashion Activist
Venetia La Manna, Fair Fashion Campaigner
PODCASTS
If you want to buy jeans, remember that shopping second-hand, vintage, or even doing a clothes swap are all great options to reduce the carbon footprint of each pair of jeans.
As we’ve shown, the perfect sustainable, ethical, affordable pair of jeans doesn’t exist (yet).
If you want to buy new jeans, hopefully this exhibition will have helped you see some of the many factors to consider while shopping for denim, and you will be better informed to make a choice that reflects an issue you care about, whether it’s lessening the impact on the environment, saving water, or supporting better working conditions for the people who made them. The little things do matter.
However, if you would like some suggestions on where to start, these innovative brands are all rated “Great" on Good On You.
RE/DONEMUD jeansOutland DenimNudie JeansOuterKnown
PureDenim, an Italian denim maufacturer known for its commitment to reducing waste in the production process.
Think about the items of clothing you have in your wardrobe. There is a good chance that you have a pair of denim jeans inside, or even a few pairs. Indeed, it is estimated that at any given time, half of the world’s population is wearing jeans. It is difficult to cite another garment that is as universally recognisable and globally worn as denim. Today, jeans are worn across borders, lines of ideology, class, age, gender and race.
REFERENCES
Better Cotton Initiative. n.d. About BCI. Better Cotton Initiative. Available: https://bettercotton.org/about-bci/. Accessed 2 December 2020.
Lindwall, C. 2019. Are My Denim Jeans Bad for the Environment?. NRDC. Available: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/are-my-denim-jeans-bad-environment. Accessed 3 December 2020.
Lipes, J. 2019. Expert Says 1.8 Million Uyghurs, Muslim Minorities Held in Xinjiang’s Internment Camps. Radio Free Asia. Available: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/detainees-11232019223242.html. Accessed 2 December 2020.
Makwanya, P. 2012. Cotton farmers at risk from pesticides. The Zimbabwe Independent. Available: https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2012/10/12/cotton-farmers-at-risk-from-pesticides/. Accessed 3 December 2020.
O'Connor, M. C. 2014. Inside the lonely fight against the biggest environmental problem you've never heard of. The Guardian. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/27/toxic-plastic-synthetic-microscopic-oceans-microbeads-microfibers-food-chain. Accessed 2 December 2020.
Reczek, R. W., Irwin, J. R., Zane, D. M., Ehrich, K. R. 2018. That’s Not How I Remember It: Willfully Ignorant Memory for Ethical Product Attribute Information. Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 45, Issue 1. Pages 185–207. Available: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucx120.
Splitstoser, J. C., Dillehay, T. D., Wouters, J., Claro, A. 2016. Early pre-Hispanic use of indigo blue in Peru. Science Advances, September 2016. Available: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501623. Accessed 2 December 2020.
Wasson, K. n.d. Why Is Zimbabwe Cotton So Popular?. Stridewise. Available:
https://stridewise.com/zimbabwe-cotton-jeans/. Accessed 3 December 2020.