Proprietary technology saves one billion liters of water.

First of all, please tell us what the Sustainability Division does.

Michael Kobori ("Michael")Our job is to make sure that Levi's®, as a company, is reducing its environmental impact and protecting the people who make its products.

For example, the "Waterless" initiative, Levi's® proprietary water-saving processing technology, began roughly seven years ago. At that time, designers were having a lot of discussions about water usage. Things like, "Shouldn't we use a lot of water to make our products, and what can we do to reduce it more? However, the design, fit, and feel had to remain the same. This was the biggest challenge.

You say that reducing water consumption for the sake of the global environment is not the end of the world if the quality of the product is compromised. What is your actual approach to water conservation?

Michael.The major change was to change the recipe. Just like cooking, each denim product has a specific recipe. We reduced the number of "10 minute washings" from three to two, and we halved the number of washes instead of filling the tank with water.

After much trial and error, we have come up with 13 techniques that allow us to reduce the amount of water used and still maintain quality. Currently, 40 percent of Levi's® products are produced using waterless technology. The amount of water we have saved as a result of this is a billion liters.

So you have visualized how much water was being used. This waterless technology is also open-sourced, isn't it?

Michael.About a year and a half ago, we invited a competitor to give a lecture on waterless technology.

Has Levi's®'s efforts increased the need for water conservation in the apparel industry as a whole?

Michael.The plant we use is also used by other companies. If we use less water, it means lower costs. For this reason as well, I think understanding of the waterless system is spreading.

Jeans are one of the items in the apparel field that use a lot of water during production. How different are jeans from other items?

Michael.: About 10 years ago, I did a study on the lifecycle of jeans. Cotton is grown, jeans are made, shipped, and then delivered to the consumer. The consumer washes and wears them until they are no longer useful. As a result, we found that one pair of jeans consumes 3,781 liters of water.

Roughly speaking, 68% of the water is used during the cotton growing stage, 9% during production, and the remaining 23% is used by the consumer for washing. We were very surprised when we saw the results of this study. Until then, we had thought that the production stage in factories was when most of the water was consumed. So we need to call out to both cotton producers and consumers the need to reduce water consumption.

How are you reaching out to cotton growers?

Michael.Levi's® is participating in the global Better Cotton Initiative. We use less water and as few chemicals as possible. This is an initiative to tell producers how to grow cotton more efficiently.

Less water and chemicals used will reduce costs, and greater efficiency will result in higher yields. As a result, the producer's income increases. At the same time, we also communicate that even family members should not be forced to do anything that is equivalent to child labor, thus creating a comprehensive "sustainability" initiative.

How much of Levi's® products are made from cotton produced by the Better Cotton Initiative?

Michael.The company's goal is to produce all of its products waterless by 2020, and by 2025, all of the cotton it handles will have been grown under the Better Cotton Initiative.

To encourage consumers, the company has also made sure that all its products carry tags with information on how to conserve water and energy, such as "don't wash your clothes too often" and "use water instead of hot water when doing laundry.

Collect unwanted clothing, regardless of brand.

Last year, you started the "Clothing Recycling Project," in which used clothing is collected and recycled. Please tell us about this project.

Michael.If you bring your unwanted clothing to the store, you will receive a discount coupon that can be used to purchase Levi's® products. The collected clothes are sorted and the usable ones are delivered to people in need through charitable organizations. If the clothes are too damaged to wear as is, they are cut into small pieces and used as raw materials for soundproof walls, car doors, etc.

In terms of life cycle, denim is an item that is used for a particularly long time. It seems unique to use the coupons earned from recycling unwanted denim to buy another long-life-cycle item.

Michael.When the jacket is no longer worn, it will be made into yarn again and returned to the denim industry as a new denim product. In this way, there is no need for water, no need for chemicals, and no need to grow cotton. No need to grow cotton. With just one jacket, the cycle would continue uninterruptedly. I hope to eventually be able to achieve this.

Perhaps Levi's® takes the issue of "sustainability" too seriously (laughs). (Laughs.) But it is very significant. It is important for Levi's® to recognize that all of its products contribute to sustainability, rather than just saying, "This collection is eco-friendly.

This way, consumers will not have to make a choice based on the question, "If I buy this brand of jeans, will it have any environmental impact? No matter which Levi's® product you buy, it won't have an impact on the earth. Our goal is to win their trust with all of our products.