
It takes 2,000-4,500 gallons of water to produce the 1.5 lbs of cotton that is in a single pair of jeans. Cotton accounts for 24% of global insecticide use and 11% of global pesticides use, even though it only makes up 2.4% of agriculture land use. Unsafe use of agricultural chemicals has severe health impacts on farm workers and on ecosystems that receive excess doses that run-off from farms. And though it has no chemical inputs and GMOs, organic cotton requires 20%-50% more land and water to produce the same amount of conventional cotton.
What is SOURCE doing?
20% of our cotton is made under the Better Cotton Initiative, which trains farming communities to practice resource management techniques to reduce the overall amount of chemical, water, and energy inputs needed to grow cotton.

Dyeing denim is one of the most water and chemical intensive parts of the denim production process. Neither natural nor synthetic dyes naturally bind to cotton, so many chemical dyeing auxiliaries are used to turn cotton blue.
When left unregulated and untreated, toxic dye baths are dumped into water streams and not only turn fields and rivers dark blue, but pollute and disrupt ecosystems that are connected to these water streams.
What is SOURCE doing?
Our denim is produced with a biopolymer derived from food-waste that replaces most of the chemical dyeing auxiliaries and enables dyes to bind to cotton naturally, reducing our chemical use by 60% and water and energy use in the dyeing phase by 80%. Our denim uses a pre-reduced, water-saving synthetic indigo dye that is sourced within the same region as our denim mills to reduce our carbon footprint.

Find out more about the chemicals in denim here!

Poorly regulated and equipped denim factories impose poor working conditions and the health hazards to workers on a daily basis. Without stringent working standards, workers often endure violations such as excessive working hours and overtime, few rest periods and little or no training or protective gear.
What is SOURCE Denim doing?
SOURCE Jeans are manufactured at a family-owned cut-and-sew operation in the United States. Our factories must pass inspections and are certified to meet stringent labor standards.

Distressing jeans to have a "worn" look involve heavy chemicals and abrasive materials that are typically applied by human beings. The dangerous use of potassium permanganate sprays, hand sanding, stone washing, and various chemical treatments are often done without proper ventilation, safety equipment, and training. All of these processes expose workers a dangerous mix of chemicals and fabric dust all day, often with nothing but a cotton mask to protect their faces. In some extreme cases, exposure to sandblasting has led to silicosis, a deadly lung disease, in workers.
What is SOURCE doing?
SOURCE Jeans are raw, which means there are no effects, distressing, or sandblasting at all. All you get is pure denim, straight off the mill.

Every year, Americans throw away 14.3 million tons of textiles every year, with the average individual accounting for 65 pounds of clothing going to landfill alone. At most, only 15% of these garments are resold on secondhand markets. The remainder pile up in landfills for a very long time, where they won't biodegrade, especially if they are made with synthetic fibers such as nylon and polyester.
What is SOURCE doing?
SOURCE Jeans are meant to last a lifetime, and if they break down before then, we'll repair them or teach you how. Each pair of jeans comes with an emergency patch kit, and when they've gone on one too many journeys, send them back to us to be repurposed into other textile goods!





