dise and design. "Up make then it was: it look differ- until can we add to ent?'" says Kobori. "They flipped that thinking. "What can we take out and still get the same look? The standard process of distress ing jeans involved washing them with lots of pumice stones repeatedly, using roughly 45 liters of water per pair. Kir by's team experimented with using no water at all. "We learned that if you put a lot of stones into a dry machine for one hour you'll end up with rags," he says. So they brought back the water- just less of it. Eventually, by using ce- ramic stones and rubber balls and changing the filtration system in the washing machines, engineers came up with jeans that, on average, use only four liters of water to achieve the dis tressed look.
The so-called water Less jeans were introduced in 2011, when 1.5 million were made. This year, Levi's will send 29 million Water Less jeans and other items to its stores. Prices range from $58 to $178 for denim made in the U.S. Kirby says the Water Less jeans have saved