Jämförelse ur ett miljöperspektiv av jeans gjorda av konventionell bomull och ekologisk bomull med hjälp av LCA : En fallstudie genomförd i samarbete med J.Lindeberg

Sammanfattning: Jeans is a clothing segment that has had a lasting popularity over many years. The intenseproduction of jeans has led to a discussion on the environmental effects that the jeanscontribute to. Cotton, which is the main material used to make jeans, is a water and chemicalintensive crop which today is involved in discussions on whether there are other moresustainable alternatives to conventional cotton. Organically grown cotton does not usesynthetic fertilizers, pesticides or growth regulators, which has made many people andcompanies believe it is a more sustainable alternative to conventionally grown cotton. J.Lindeberg is a Swedish fashion company which produce jeans made from bothconventional and organic cotton today, however, they have a goal to increase the use oforganic cotton to decrease the negative environmental effects from the jeans. Therefore, thismaster thesis aims to determine if jeans made from conventional or organic cotton has ahigher environmental performance. This is done by taking environmental effects through theentire life cycle into account by making a life cycle assessment of two pairs of jeans made byJ.Lindeberg, Jay Devout made from conventional cotton and Jay Solid Stretch made fromorganic cotton. To reach the aim, three research questions are formulated: Which style of jeans, Jay Devout or Jay Solid Stretch, has the highest potential lifecycle environmental performance? Will the change from conventional cotton to organic cotton in the jeans align with thesustainability goals set by J.Lindeberg? Are there any possible risks or trade-offs associated with the shift from conventionalto organic cotton? The LCA was performed with data from four supplying companies of J.Lindeberg and theresults show that Jay Devout, made from conventional cotton, have a higher environmentalperformance when including the entire life cycle. However, the impacts from the productionis not dependent on the cotton being conventional or organic and therefore, to conclude ifJ.Lindeberg is making the right choice by changing from conventional to organic cotton, thecomparison should only include the cotton cultivation phase. When comparing the cottoncultivation phase of the conventional and organic systems, the results show that the organiccotton has a higher environmental performance. This suggests that the change fromconventional cotton to organic cotton will in fact contribute to lower negative environmentalimpacts. Furthermore, the change from conventional to organic cotton aligns with most of thesustainability goals set by J.Lindeberg. Jay Devout, made from conventional cotton, had a higher negative impact on most of theimpact categories connected to toxicity, which supports the choice of changing to organiccotton, since J.Lindeberg has a goal to reduce the chemicals in their products. Overall, thetwo jeans performed differently on different impact categories, however a similarity is thatthe production phase is a hotspot for both jeans. There is a risk of trade-offs regarding theimpact categories water consumption, global warming and fossil resource scarcity whenincluding all phases of the life cycle, and to avoid this, increased transparency andtraceability is required in the supply chain to enable thorough sustainability work. Arecommendation is to demand the use of renewable sources for electricity production in allsteps of the life cycle, since this decrease the environmental impacts, especially from theproduction phase.