In the wake of the recent World Health Day, the Clean Clothes Campaign has called to put a worldwide stop to sandblasting in the production of jeans. The organization has fought for the awareness and understanding of this deadly process since autumn of 2010. You can read what we had to say about it here.

Sandblasting gives a finished pair of jeans that fashionable “used look”. Worn out areas lend the visual feel of a previous (and perhaps more adventurous) life to what is really a brand new garment. The workers involved in this process are exposed to extremely fine dust and fall ill alarmingly quickly, victims of deadly silicosis. Thousands suffer from this dangerous lung disease in production countries like Turkey, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh or Egypt.

Unbelievable, isn’t it? We run around in cool and sexily frayed attire while, on the other side of the world, the people who made them are dying because of it. Since the CCC’s outcry against sandblasting, leading companies have stopped using the dangerous process, searching for viable alternatives instead.

At hessnatur, we create the same effect by washing, or rather washing-out, our jeans with enzymes. It’s not only effective, but also extracts neither a toll from the environment, nor from human lives. It works. And that leads me to ask the question, why is it taking so long for a universal ban?

At the end of the day, we consumers decide. We cast our vote with every purchase. I cast my vote for fair working conditions and a healthy working environment. How about you?

Tags: health, Jeans, used look. sandblasting

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 8:23 am and is filed under Environment, Material, Production, Social responsibility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.