Blue Jeans

It pains us to admit that in today’s fast-paced world, there is constant pressure to be stylish and relevant. Take blue jeans for instance – the never-ending list of new trends or the infinite number colours, cuts and styles seem to justify our temptation. We are pressured to be new and different, yet forced to conform.

Amidst this desire, many of us are aware that the costs of our purchases are much more than the dollar sum at the check-out. The thought that our new pair of jeans is likely produced by an impoverished, underpaid labourer in South-East Asia lies dormant at the back of our minds, as does the knowledge that its production will emit somewhere between 33 and 80 kilograms of CO2 into the atmosphere. However, the vast distance between our everyday lives and the reality of hot sweaty factories and smoggy skies renders the gravity of our purchase insignificant. After all, what’s the hurt in just one more pair?

Accordingly, we can consider ‘blue jeans’ as a symbol of Western colonialism and capitalism, and a useful way to explore the impact of jeans and fast fashion on the climate and the oceans. Given the statistics, the ethical choice should be easy, but as expendable incomes continue to shrink, it becomes harder to ask consumers to pick the ‘right’ side in this dilemma.

Credit: Era Zakaria

Colonizing Jeans

The origins of jeans can be traced back to the fast-paced world of capitalism and the relentless pursuit of ever faster fashion, exemplifying a race for the quickest trends. In a globalised world economy, large retailers have gained growing control over suppliers, demanding low costs and quick responses to trends. In this context, sustainability is not part of the conversation, with colonialism enabling destruction and exploitation.

According to Majdouline Elhichou, fashion is colonial and anthropocentric, failing to acknowledge or accept anything outside of the Western tradition. In its view of nature as an infinite resource for the development of humankind, the fashion industry today has the same political ethos that made anthropocentrism so popular during the Industrial Revolution as a means to achieve growth and enrichment. Although there are cultural traces of fashioning one’s body – which is a significant marker of identity – it is the same way imperial powers affirm their superiority.

In the words of Petras (1993:139): United States cultural imperialism has ‘two primary objectives’: economic, to capture markets for its cultural commodities, and political, to establish hegemony by shaping popular consciousness. This form of imperialism encourages working people to focus on hierarchical differences in lifestyle, race, and gender among themselves, rather than on the vast inequalities separating them from the elite. The principal target of cultural imperialism is youth, who are particularly susceptible to U.S. commercial propaganda, especially during the 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting from the 1950s, the “North Americanization” of popular culture conveyed an image of ‘freedom’ and the ‘hope of a better life’ to the Third World, often portraying an aspirational way of life. This cultural influence became particularly prominent in the age of mass media, which has proved to be a key source of wealth and power for U.S. capital.

Credit: Markus Spiske, Unsplash

A notable example is the blue jean, a symbol originating in the United States that permeated youth cultures worldwide. The advertising and cultural significance of blue jeans were often interpreted through the lens of their ‘American-ness as a reference point’. Initially a signifier of class differences and expanding in meaning through gender and culture, blue jeans have evolved into a basic staple of clothing, though they no longer hold the purpose of imitating ‘America’ as they once did. Despite this shift, Western epistemology, particularly the American trend, has persisted. Blue jeans have become a ubiquitous staple in wardrobes across all classes. However, they have developed distinct subsections that align with contemporary youth trends, varying by brand, colour, and pattern. These variations indicate class and wealth, reflecting the consumerist culture that underscores socio-economic status through material possessions. It becomes clear that the fashion industry fails to recognize diverse body fashioning traditions beyond Western philosophy, perpetuating an anthropocentric view that prioritises exploitation over sustainability.

Consumerism and the Impact on Climate Change

Like the oceans’ systems, fashion corporations and the consumer rely on a symbiotic relationship. To individuals, fashion is a tool – a performance to construct identity. The corporation fuels this performance because doing so leads to more sales and thus accumulation of capital.  (where 80% of workers are women of colour in exploitive labour). As a result, once the wearer succumbs to this desire, they become entangled in a consumption cycle that is difficult to break once its initiated. This cycle of demand takes power from consumers and gifts it to producers. Within the rhythm of capitalism, it is crucial to assess the socio-political acceptance of these behaviours, or if accountability lies with consumers becoming more conscious of their choices. For example, the non-profit Fashion Revolution launched the trend #whomademyclothes which was paired with #imadeyourclothes to promote industry transparency and amplify the voices of garment workers.

Credit: @kappahl on Instagram

The effects are immense, and there is no group of people which suffers more than those who produce the clothes. However, the impact of fast fashion on and its continued contribution to the current climate emergency is also significant. Indeed, the fashion industry contributes approximately 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than international flights and maritime shipping.

Certainly, the affordability of fashion for all levels of income in the developed world appears progressive. In reality, to keep up with the demands of mass production, the manufacturers are forced to cut costs wherever they can; only 2% of textile workers earn a living wage. Many of us in the developed world are aware of this injustice and the abhorrent conditions of these underpaid labourers, but our removal from the situation means we continue to prioritise consumerist desires.

Blue Jeans, Our Climate, Our Oceans

 Yet, wages are not the only issue here. If I were to buy 20 pairs of jeans in a year, I would only keep 3 of them for the next – that’s right, the average consumer disposes of 85% of fast fashion items they consume every year due to the fast turnaround of trends and fads. This waste has immense consequences for the climate. The production of fashion annually consumes 79 billion cubic metres of water and 31 billion litres of crude oil as a result of overconsumption. Additionally, these chemicals are produced en masse by factories, as unfortunately only a mere 2% of the world’s fashion factories adopt ethical and sustainable practices. Jeans are a big contributor here – the production of a pair of jeans requires almost 3800 litres of water, and waterways become polluted and unstable due to the chemicals in the pesticides, dyes and finishing agents. Moreover, the industry is powered by fossil fuels and as much as 20% of the fabric used is wasted, with the waste often ending up in landfill or being incinerated.

Fishes amongst trash in the ocean. Credit: Naja Bertolt Jensen, Unsplash

As such, blue jeans reinforce these developments through one more often-overlooked mode – the degradation of our oceans. The ocean is the world’s greatest ally against climate change – supplying 50% of the oxygen we need, absorbing 25% of carbon dioxide emissions, and capturing 90% of excess heat, it acts as both the ‘lungs of the planet’ and its primary carbon sink. These oceans’ abilities are reduced, however, by anthropogenic contaminants such as microplastics, which undermines the climate resilience of marine ecosystems and negatively affects coral reefs as well as mangroves which sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Currently, the fashion industry contributes around 35% –  190,000 tonnes per year! – of oceanic primary microplastic pollution which is released to the aquatic environment, e.g. through uncontrolled dumping of waste or wearing and washing of clothing produced unsustainably.

The authors who wrote this very article have once succumbed to the allure of blue jeans. While this impulse to conform might permanently satisfy the brands producing them, the same cannot be said for consumers or the likely exploited workers who crafted them. This socially accepted consumer behaviour perpetuates anthropogenic climate change, polluting both our atmosphere and oceans. Pause to consider and reassess the ethical dimensions of your consumption habits, recognizing the interconnectedness of your choices with broader environmental, political, and social concerns. Think twice about the long journey of your jeans – which may exist for years beyond the life on Earth that created them.