How to find a pair of jeans online that are actually sustainable

Your jeans have probably passed through cotton farms, dye houses and wash facilities before reaching your closet.

The denim may have never been worn but it's stonewashed, sanded, chemically faded or laser-treated to create a worn-in look.

Those processes can require significant amounts of water, energy and chemicals.

It's part of the reason denim production has become a growing target for sustainability efforts across the fashion industry, which is among the world’s biggest producers of greenhouse gas emissions.

Brands are increasingly marketing jeans as “sustainable,” but figuring out if that's true is far more complicated.