Never Put Your Jeans in the Washing Machine: Levi's CEO's Bizarre Advice to Save the Planet

Key Highlights :

1. Levi's CEO Chip Bergh said he wears his jeans into the shower to clean them.

2. The man at the top of iconic denim maker Levi Strauss has shared a bizarre suggestion to help save the planet.

3. Climate-conscious Charles Bergh has urged customers to wear their jeans while showering instead of placing them in a washing machine - to save energy and water and cut down on pollution.

4. Levi's CEO Charles Bergh told CNBC's 'Managing Asia ' last month that he wears his jeans into the shower and scrubs them with soap as you would your own legs.

5. Scientists in Canada have found alarming levels of denim microfibers in aquatic ecosystems.

6. Above, the distribution of average microfiber concentrations from the sediment samples they analyzed, including fibers found in the Canadian Arctic, the Great Lakes and rainbow-smelt fish.

7. In 2020, researchers found that synthetic indigo denim fibers comprised almost a quarter of microfibers deposited in the Great Lakes and around the Canada-US border and a fifth of clothing fragments in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

8. The team's experiments, published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, also determined that about 50,000 microscopic denim fragments are shed in a single run through a domestic washing machine.

9. 'Blue jeans, the world's most popular single garment,' the researchers said, 'have a widespread geographic footprint in the form of microfibers in aquatic environments from temperate to Arctic regions.'

10. Levi's CEO Charles Bergh told CNBC's 'Managing Asia ' last month that he wears his jeans into the shower and scrubs them with soap as a person might wash their own legs.

11. But only 'if they get really gross, you know, if I've been out sweating or something,' the CEO clarified.

12. Based on the levels of microfibers found in wastewater effluent, like the kind swept away after an at-home clothes wash, the researchers estimate that local wastewater treatment plants discharged about 1 billion indigo denim microfibers per day.

13. 'We don't know yet the impacts on wildlife and the environment,' the study's lead author, Samantha Athey, told Science News Explores.

14. Levi's CEO Charles Bergh had more environmentally conscious reasons to leave your jeans out of the washing machine.

     Levi's CEO Charles Bergh has made headlines once again, this time with a bizarre suggestion to help save the planet. In an interview with CNBC's 'Managing Asia', Bergh urged customers to wear their jeans while showering instead of placing them in a washing machine - to save energy and water and cut down on pollution. His advice has been backed up by environmental science, which has revealed that toxic microfibers stripped from denim during too many runs in the washing machine are building up in aquatic ecosystems.

     Bergh clarified his position, telling CNBC that he wears his jeans into the shower and scrubs them with soap as you would your own legs. “If they get really gross, you know, if I’ve been out sweating or something, I’ll wash them in the shower,” he said.

     In 2020, researchers found that synthetic indigo denim fibers comprised almost a quarter of microfibers deposited in the Great Lakes and around the Canada-US border and a fifth of clothing fragments in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The team's experiments, published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, also determined that about 50,000 microscopic denim fragments are shed in a single run through a domestic washing machine.

     These alarming levels of denim microfibers in aquatic ecosystems have led Bergh to suggest an alternative way to clean jeans. He believes that washing jeans in the shower is the best way to keep them clean without damaging the environment. Not only does this save energy and water, but it also helps to preserve the shape and color of jeans, as too many spin cycles can degrade the fabric and increase the risk of rips and holes.

     Bergh also pointed out that washing jeans in the shower is part of the clothing's carbon footprint. The denim industry already consumes a lot of water on the manufacturing side, he said, and washing them in the shower is a more environmentally conscious way to clean them.

     While Bergh's suggestion may seem odd, it is backed up by science and could be a great way to help save the planet. If you're a devoted denim lover, you may want to consider trying this bizarre method of cleaning your jeans - it could be the key to helping protect the environment.

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