Well, eco-friendly equals expensive! These VERY costly jeans do not lend themselves to wide-spread use. A manufacturer of eco-friendly products that "fits" the pocketbooks of the larger majority rather than just the elite is needed in order to sustain the green wave.

I love the eco products and the colors however I have to agree with Les that only the rich and famous can afford these eco items meaning the rest of the globe keeps living an eco-less lifestyle. Maybe there should be green discounts for teachers and doctors in underserved areas of the world.

Organic Cotton PLUS Fair trade labor is a combo that should trump all other options.

I'd suggest Certified Jeans from Seattle - organic and sweatshop free!

our trusty capitolist/industrailist fashionistas riding the magic denium carpet, they ALL should be boycotted on price alone......while your at it throw red paint on (legs) of anyone who wears them.

a;lg

Although these may seem a bit expensive, I think that, especially for those who already wear premium jeans, they provide a great option. Diesel, a popular denim manufacturer, regularly charges between 2 and 3 hundred for a pair of jeans. So, how much better to know about the eco options too?

I agree - designer jeans are $100-200.
Organic is the way to go! :-)

btw: "mavi" in Swahili means... crap. Haha, seriously.

Patagonia anyone? I know their gear is aimed towards hikers/climbers and the like, but last time I checked they pushed the environmentally friendly threads as well.

Make up your mind, sillies:
Do you want the makers of your jeans to earn a living wage or do you want your jeans at Wal-mart prices? You can't have your cake and eat it, too.

I agree with Truett, Loomstate at least has sweat free denim, I'm not sure about some of the others over $100. I'm sure mavi and Levi are imported, and not fair- wage. This is a great start!

Too expensive? somebody show me some fashionable jeans under $70? Good excuse not to go green!

As a consumer, I would really appreciate some advice on finding out if these eco friendly products are also sweatshop free and fair labor and fair wage items. This goes for all merchandise. I do not shop at the mall anymore because of all these concerns. Thanks for your help.

I'll stick with US union made jeans for much less.

How about buying second hand jeans then you're really doing one step better than organic cotton. Reduce your impact and use something that's already been made. While you may lose fashion points they're definitely eco-friendly and a HELL of a lot cheaper! Besides if you're persistent then you may be surprised at the type of stuff you can find and second hand stores. And as if that wasn't a good enough reason most of those stores are operated by charities so your money goes to a good cause!

If you are rich these jeans would merit consideration.

At the lower end of the cost for these jeans I can buy 3plus top quality jeans at the upper end I can buy 9plus top quality jeans for the same price. So take a guess what i am going to do when i need Jeans.

What they are doing is creating a niche market and overcharging way over their cost to make these jeans. These jean companies are definitely into making these jeans for large profits not for saving the planet.

come on tow of those are under $100 (USD i assume) which is about £50 which is pretty cheap for a pair of Jeans.

The most eco-friendly jeans are the ones you buy at the thrift store. Goodwill is a s green as it gets!

I agree this is not a green solution for the average consumer why not do what my wife and I do and go to goodwill and buy jeans for $1.00 on there sale day. We can get a dozen pair of jeans that will last us about year. Good for the planet if ask me. And when they are done we make bags from the denim for girls to play with.

These prices are kinda cheap. The problem with eco-friendly newly made products is that they are not mass produced enough to bottom out the price. The cheap jeans you're used to don't require inspection after inspection to certify each component. They can use words like natural and other things but they could still be non-organic and sweatshop made.

When you buy eco products you have to pay for smaller runs of an item, the process of certification for all the components that go into making the product (farm inspection, labor shop inspection, transportation inspection etc) and the smaller runs, lack of being able to mass advertise and less storefront visibility leads to a small market. If the market were bigger then you'd start seeing these prices drop. Most of these looked pretty stylish.

And yes, Levi's is not green. http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=258

I was surprised H&M products didn't make the list though, they are cheap and while they may not be growing grass in the back pocket, H&M proactively make certain they leave as small an environmental impact as posssible while making sure the workers making their clothes are taken care of as well.