On an average it takes about 70 liters of water to make a pair of jeans. Now, Arvind aims to make a pair with just a glass of water. Arvind is one of India’s largest denim producers. The company produces over 100 million meters of fabrics and six million pairs of jeans.
A year ago, Arvind moved to zero discharge of hazardous chemicals from its units. For reducing its water footprint, the company has worked with technology providers in the US and imported machines from Europe that now allow it to replace the water used in washing of denim to manufacturing instead with machines to give the same washed look.
Chemical waste from the manufacturing of indigo blue jeans has turned rivers to an unnatural shade of blue in countries like China and India. Denim constitutes approximately 30 per cent of Arvind’s fabric and garment business. Arvind is a supplier to brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klien, Gap, Levi’s, Lee, Wrangler, H&M and Hugo Boss. It also has its own in-house brands like Flying Machine.
Close to 650 to 700 million pairs of jeans are sold annually in India. The global jeans market is expected to grow by 4.2 per cent for men and 3.7 per cent for women.
