Stonewash jeans cause 'distress' in South America
Toxic run-off from ‘distressing’ and stonewashing denim jeans is poisoning the environment in Tehuacan, reports The Guardian today. Tehuacan in Central Mexico still hosts more than 700 clothes manufacturers, including some big name international and US labels as well as dozens of smaller, making copies of the larger brands’ fashions. A local subsistence farmer tries to irrigate his land with water from the local canal but the water has been contaminated by the jeans factories: “As well as being blue, it burns the seedlings and sterilises the earth,” he says.
A spokesman for the Gap factory in the area claims, “The contamination is mainly the fault of the companies that act outside the law.” Inspectors seem to inspect selectively, he claims – his factory is one of the few with an onsite water treatment plant.
Until recently, organic, fairtrade jeans were fairly difficult to get hold of and extremely expensive, but nowadays, there is no excuse for supporting this kind of pollution. Jeans start at £30 from Natural Collection or from £95 from Hug, from £25 at Howies and from £40 from Adili. So, let the big companies know you won’t stand for their cutprice pollution – buy fairtrade and organic and ensure a good deal for workers and the environment.
