Old-school legacy denim brands — from Levi’s and Lee to Guess, Wrangler, Diesel, and Nudie — are reworking cotton, dyeing, water systems, circular design, and finishing technology to reduce denim’s environmental footprint.
The environmental cost of denim begins with its most important ingredient: cotton. Levi Strauss & Co. reports that nearly 90 percent of its raw material volume is cotton, much of it cultivated in regions experiencing water stress. In its Water Stewardship documentation, the company notes that a single pair of jeans can use up to 3,800 liters of water in its lifetime, a figure that includes cotton farming, dyeing, finishing, and consumer use.
Finishing alone accounts for a meaningful portion of that demand. Research shows that conventional denim finishing can use around 42 liters of water per pair, while advanced systems — such as laser finishing and ozone treatments — can reduce that figure to roughly 1.5 liters.
Water is only part of the equation, though. Indigo dyeing generates wastewater laden with salts, reducing agents, and residual dyes. Without effective treatment systems — still inconsistent across global supply chains — these discharges can pollute soil and waterways. The carbon footprint is similarly significant. Levi’s most recent lifecycle assessment estimates that a pair of 501 jeans produces roughly 33.4 kilograms of CO2 equivalent throughout its lifespan.
How brands are addressing their denim footprints
Heritage brands are now attempting to reconcile the cultural weight of denim with the environmental reality behind it. Guess has introduced Airwash, a finishing method developed with textile‑technology company Jeanología. The process replaces pumice and most water with air, lasers, and micro‑bubbles to recreate the stone‑washed look.
Nicolai Marciano explained the shift: “In the past, we were pushing product innovation to celebrate a category in a way that it never had been done before,” he told Highsnobiety. “Today, we’re looking at celebrating that category and approaching it with an industry‑redefining process that should change the landscape for all brands in the foreseeable future.”
Levi’s has broadened its approach through its Water<Less program and its 2030 Water Strategy, which emphasizes contextual water targets, increased use of recycled water, and improved wastewater treatment across its supplier base. As of 2024, the company reports a 27 percent reduction in freshwater use in high water stress regions compared with its 2018 baseline.
Smaller labels are also making a dent. Nudie Jeans has taken a durability‑first path, offering free repairs, secondhand resale, and fiber‑to‑fiber recycling. By extending the lifespan of each garment, it reduces the need for new production. Wrangler, G‑Star Raw, and other established labels are testing lower‑impact dyes, recycled‑cotton blends, foam‑based coloration, and renewable energy integration at mills.
The most sustainable legacy denim brands
The era that first broadcast denim everywhere — from billboards on Sunset Boulevard to the pages of Vogue — rarely acknowledged what it took to create the look. The work happening now is far more consequential. And some of denim’s most iconic legacy brands are leading the way.
Levi’s
Levi’s, which launched in 1853, remains the most extensively documented denim brand in the world, which makes its progress — and its challenges — easier to trace. Its sustainability approach spans decades, beginning with its first lifecycle assessment in 2007 and expanding into full supply-chain transparency by the mid-2010s. Today, Levi’s updates its targets through detailed annual reports that outline water use, emissions, chemistry, and durability. Its current 2030 climate plan includes science-based targets to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90 percent and Scope 3 emissions by 40 percent.
Water<Less, introduced in 2011, was one of the earliest large-scale finishing programs to meaningfully cut water use across commercial denim. By 2020, Levi’s reported that more than 67 percent of its denim was made with Water<Less methods. Levi’s is in the midst of a multi-year transition toward regenerative, recycled, and organic cotton. The company has also worked with the Better Cotton Initiative for over a decade, and newer collections incorporate recycled cotton blends made possible by advancements in fiber-recycling mills.
Durability has become a central focus as well. Levi’s tailors many of its emissions and water-reduction strategies around extending garment life — arguing that the longer a jean is worn, the lower its annualized footprint. Its Buy Better, Wear Longer campaign and repair initiatives reflect that shift.
Several of its key partners in Turkey, Vietnam, and Pakistan have installed closed-loop or semi-closed-loop systems that treat and recirculate water back into production. The brand also tracks finishing impacts using Jeanología’s EIM tool and has phased out hazardous chemistry through its Screened Chemistry program, which goes beyond traditional restricted-substances lists.
Last month, Levi’s announced its updated Water Strategy, setting a 15 percent absolute reduction target for freshwater use across its manufacturing supply chain by 2030 (measured against a 2022 baseline). That plan brings mills, laundries, and cut-and-sew facilities into a unified water framework for the first time.
Lee
Founded in 1889, Lee’s sustainability strategy has become increasingly concrete in recent years, and there is more happening behind the scenes than its general For a World That Works language initially suggests. The platform launched in 2020 as a global overhaul across materials, dye systems, finishing, and supply-chain practices, with a stated goal of modernizing the brand’s operations while keeping denim accessible.
A major pillar of this work is Indigood, Lee’s foam-dyeing technology that replaces the traditional indigo bath. Instead of long vats of water and large quantities of sodium hydrosulfite (a common but resource-intensive reducing agent), the foam-dye process applies indigo through a controlled foam layer. Lee reports that this method cuts water use by more than 90 percent at the dyeing stage and significantly reduces the chemicals and heat typically required.
Lee is also tied closely to the initiatives of Kontoor Brands (its parent company), which committed in 2020 to sourcing 100 percent sustainably grown or recycled cotton by 2025. In practice, this means more traceability at the farm level and a shift away from conventional cotton farming’s high water and chemical demands.
Wrangler
Wrangler’s entire identity is built on long-wearing denim, and its sustainability work leans on that ethos. In 2022, it launched Wrangler Reborn, its official upcycling program, which expanded again in 2024 through a partnership with Beyond Retro. That collaboration takes discarded denim — sometimes truly unwearable — and turns it into new styles sold through Walmart and specialty channels.
Wrangler also participates in Accelerating Circularity, a cross‑industry initiative exploring how to turn post‑consumer denim into new fiber. It has also been testing alternative dye systems, including foam-based coloration that dramatically reduces water use.
Guess
Guess has modernized its sustainability strategy through its Action Guess roadmap, which refocused the brand’s priorities for fibers, finishing, and takeback. One of the most concrete targets is material-based: by 2030 Guess plans for 80 percent of its cotton to be regenerative, recycled, or organic. It has also expanded its Guess Eco line, aiming for 75 percent of its mainline denim to meet that standard.
Laser and ozone finishing tools are now used to reduce water and chemical intensity across its signature washes. And its long-running partnership with Blue Jeans Go Green continues to keep old denim in circulation by turning it into insulation.
Diesel
Since its launch in 1978, Diesel has always been a defining brand. Most recently, it leaned into technical innovation. Rehab Denim, which first appeared in 2022 and expanded through 2023, uses a blend of recycled cotton and recycled elastane along with Tencel. It often pairs these fabrics with Dry Indigo, a dyeing method that virtually eliminates water from the indigo‑dye stage and uses far fewer chemicals than a traditional dye bath.
Diesel has also experimented with circular cutting‑scrap programs, capturing leftover fabric from production and reintegrating it into new yarns or trims.
Lee Cooper
Dating back to 1908, Lee Cooper is one of the oldest denim brands globally. It incorporates Better Cotton, recycled content, and updated dye technologies designed to reduce water and chemical inputs. While less heavily marketed than some modern sustainability programs, the brand’s fabric sourcing and dye choices represent meaningful shifts from legacy manufacturing.
Pepe Jeans
Pepe Jeans, a fixture of London’s ’70s streetwear scene, now relies heavily on Better Cotton Initiative cotton and increasing amounts of recycled fibers. The brand’s finishing partners have rolled out lower-impact wash systems, gradually shifting the resource profile of its bestselling jeans. The work is quieter than that of some competitors, but the material and wash transitions are real.
G-Star Raw
G-Star is one of the most technical players in sustainable denim. In 2018, it introduced the world’s first Cradle to Cradle Gold certified denim fabric — a milestone that required safe chemistry, fully recyclable inputs, and near‑closed-loop wash processes.
As of this year, five percent of its fabrics meet Cradle to Cradle standards. It also uses high percentages of recycled cotton and continues to push into low‑chemical dye technologies.
AG Jeans (Adriano Goldschmied)
AG has built an entire reputation around premium American denim, and a big part of that is its facility in Los Angeles, which runs a near-closed-loop water‑recycling system.
Instead of sending spent wash water down a drain, the company filters and reuses it for additional finishing cycles. AG also leans heavily on laser finishing and less harmful dyes, reducing the water and chemical loads behind its signature washes.
Nudie Jeans
Swedish denim label Nudie approaches sustainability through longevity. Since 2001, the brand has committed to 100 percent organic cotton for its denim. It offers free repairs for life — a genuine, no‑fine‑print service — and runs a takeback program that feeds into secondhand resale or fiber‑to‑fiber recycling. Nudie also publishes unusually detailed supply‑chain information, offering clarity about where and how its garments are made.
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