Levi’s CEO Suggests Wearing Your Jeans in the Shower to Help Save the Planet

Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh is telling consumers to wear their jeans in the shower when they’re in dire need of being washed, or better yet he says, just a spot clean will do. Bergh reasons that circumventing the washing machine will benefit the environment and make your Levi’s last longer.

“The denim industry consumes a ton of water,” Bergh told CNBC. “Half of it is growing the cotton, and then the other half is the consumer throwing their jeans in the washing machine,” he added.

Read more

• Michigan TV network fires sports director for Mel Tucker ‘analysis’ that read more like PR work

• Tesla Cybertrucks Are Breaking Down More Often Than I Do

• Jada Pinkett Smith says she and Will have been separated for 7 years, thought the Oscar slap was a skit

• Baldur’s Gate 3 Players Found An Incredible Way To Keep Minthara Alive In A ‘Good’ Playthrough

• How Much Ford Can A Ford Line Worker Afford?

Although studies back Bergh’s reasoning for refraining from putting those smelly, dirty jeans in the washing machine, it doesn’t negate the fact that bacteria will continue to live on the jeans even after giving them a shower. Bergh offers the option to freeze your jeans to get rid of the smell and kill bacteria, but that’s not exactly true, according to Stephen Craig Cary, an expert on frozen microbes with the University of Delaware.

Cary told the Smithsonian Magazine: “One might think that if the temperature drops well below the human body temperature they will not survive, but actually many will. Many are preadapted to survive low temperatures.”

He added even if only one bacteria survives on the jeans, it can repopulate when the jeans warm back up. “I would suggest that you either raise the temperature to 121 degrees Celsius for at least 10 minutes,” Cary told the outlet, “or just wash them! The latter surely is the best alternative to save energy.”

More from Gizmodo

• Looks like the Vikings are throwing in the towel, ready to trade Kirk Cousins

• Someone Please Buy And Then Actually Drive This Ultra-Low-Mile, One-Of-200 Dodge Neon SRT-4 Commemorative Edition

• Let Caroline Ellison's Testimony Be a Reminder That Dating Your Boss Is Messy

• Cheers to Roz Doyle, one of the most progressive women to ever grace a sitcom

• New Shooter Is The Duke Nukem Sequel We Deserve

Sign up for Gizmodo's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.