We are excited to release our water report in collaboration with the Water Footprint Implementation! In this report, you can find extensive information on the importance of water on our earth and how we deal with water in our pure denim products. This report would not exist without Water Footprint Implementation, a team of water experts who provide insights and effective solutions for organisations that want to lower their water footprint.

Green, blue, and grey water footprint

The collective is built upon the Water Footprint Assessment, a method developed by Arjen Hoekstra in 2002 to measure the amount of freshwater that is being used by companies in the production of goods and services in their supply chain. Within this method, they divide three ‘types’ of water: green water from natural rainfall, blue water from the ground- and surface water sources, and grey water from water pollution. This method ultimately helps organisations determine how to reduce their water consumption.

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We care about our water impact

The production of denim consumes a lot of water. Did you know that the average Water Footprint of one kilogram of cotton is 8000 litres, but it can also be as high as 20000 litres? Denim is highly cotton dependent, and therefore the denim industry must consider its water use. Needless to say, as a sustainable brand, we care about our impact on the environment and try to make conscious choices every step of the way. Luckily, the assessment showed that we’re already on the right track! But, with the insights and practices of the water footprint assessment, we’ll try to make better informed, impactful decisions to reduce water use in our production process.

How we already reduce our water use

We’re already doing a lot with a water-conscious mind, like choosing our materials. Kuyichi only uses GOTS-certified organic cotton, which has a lower water footprint than conventional cotton. This is mainly because of its farming practices; organic cotton uses a lot less irrigation, along with no synthetic fertilisers or pesticides, which also reduces polluted water. A lot of our denim also contains recycled fibres, like recycled worn denim. This reduces water use as we blend already-made denim fibres in new jeans. We also try to limit the use of synthetic fibres as much as possible. Virgin synthetic fibres have a significant water footprint in production, mainly because of the pollution that comes with them.

Insights of our Water Report 2021

A clear insight of this report is that the footprint of the production processes is just a small part of the total water footprint. This is because materials are super water-intensive, but also because our producers already work hard on limiting their water footprint in production. Not only by reducing water use but also by ensuring the used water is cleaned correctly. We’re proud to be working with partners that not only put in a major effort to improve but can prove it in numbers too. For this assessment, we collaborated with our partners Soorty, located in Pakistan, and Bossa, located in Turkey.

More detailed insights can be found in our Water Report. Here, limitations and the need for additional research are also addressed to ensure this gets more careful examination in further analysis. With this report, we open up about our water footprint, and we hope that more and more brands will do the same. We give thanks to the Water Footprint Implementation team for providing us with valuable insights that genuinely make a positive impact on the way we at Kuyichi look at our water footprint.