Your Levi’s will be more climate-friendly: Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi’s) has committed to a water-saving method called “contextual water targets” that promises to reduce water use in factories located in water-scarce areas including Egypt, according to Bloomberg. Contextual water targets prioritize factories in areas with low levels of available water, curbing water use more diligently in water-stressed areas even though water consumption measures are in areas such as the US may be easier to achieve.

Jeans manufacturing is one of the most water-demanding activities: A single pair of jeans can consume up to 3.8k liters of water to produce, Bloomberg writes, and Levi’s wants all key mills and factories to meet contextual water targets by 2025 with a target of cutting water consumption by 50% in water-scarce areas.

Innovative water-saving tactics: Levi’s has come up with 20 new water-saving techniques including swapping detergents with small amounts of water and ozone gas, or softening jeans by tumbling them with bottle caps and golf balls instead of using fabric softener and water. The company said it also pushes for the reuse and recycling of water.

However, science-based targets are more effective than contextual-based ones: Science-based targets are based on hydrological data, identifying the quantity and quality thresholds that cannot be surpassed if the freshwater basin were to be sustainable. This method can better define what an individual company must do to improve a local water system, Bloomberg writes.

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