10 - Denim and consumers’ phase of life cycle

Abstract

The consumer phase of the life cycle is a term used to describe the progression of steps a customer goes through when considering, purchasing, using and maintaining a product (here it is jeans). The purpose of this chapter is to propose a rating model that measures the consumer phase of the life-cycle assessment (LCA) for denim, specifically during washing, drying and ironing of textile products. However, various consumer phase activities such as home laundering, pressing and drying were shown to be significantly responsible for environmental impacts. This chapter mainly focuses on the consumer phase of the life cycle, including the major denim producers, global market potentials, denim consumption per capita and consumer phase of the LCA. The consumer phase of the LCA was discussed according to the LCA report by Levi Strauss & Co. In it, they conducted studies in China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States to understand differences in washing, pressing and drying habits. Overall results showed that in the overall life cycle, the consumer phase alone consumes 37% of energy, which causes a huge impact on global climate change. This report also concluded that Americans use more water and energy to wash their jeans than do consumers in China, France and the United Kingdom.