Pursuits
It’s So Hard to Make Blue Jeans Without Nasty Chemicals
- Consumers increasingly care about what’s in products they buy
- Replacing chemicals with safer substances can be difficult
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What’s in your jeans? A rogue’s gallery of unpronounceable chemicals whose effects on humans are suspect.
Perfluorochemicals, phthalates and azo dyes are among the substances that are widespread in making clothes. Under pressure from consumers demanding safer alternatives to harmful chemicals, American companies including Levi Strauss & Co. are taking a more European approach. The European Union has banned or restricted more than 1,000 chemicals; in the U.S., fewer than 50.