{"id":18629,"date":"2011-02-23T11:55:18","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T19:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/?p=18629"},"modified":"2011-02-23T11:57:06","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T19:57:06","slug":"high-risk-jeans-why-levis-and-hm-want-to-take-sandblasting-out-of-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/style\/fashion\/high-risk-jeans-why-levis-and-hm-want-to-take-sandblasting-out-of-fashion","title":{"rendered":"High Risk Jeans: Why Levi’s and H&M Want to Take Sandblasting Out of Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Levi’s and H&M are teaming up with the International Textile Garment & Leather Workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Federation to ban sandblasting for apparel products (denim and heavier materials are most likely to receive the treatment), and it’s because of a disturbing trend.<\/p>\n Not a fashion one, though if you’re not a fan of the sandblasted look you may already be in agreement.<\/p>\n “Between 2005 and 2009, 40 garment workers in Turkey reportedly died from a lung disease caused by exposure to crystalline silica, a substance used to make sandblasted denim. As a result, the Turkish government outlawed the practice; last year, Levi’s and H&M stopped using sandblasted products.”\u00c2\u00a0{The Cut<\/a>}<\/p>\n Hopefully the pairing adds weight to the 2009 decision of H&M and Levi’s not to purchase or sell sandblasted products, when the companies determined that safe labor practices were skirted with suppliers and subcontracters.<\/p>\n Treehugger reports that “when the Turkish\u00c2\u00a0Health Ministry prohibited the practice in 2009, many firms simply picked up stakes and made new deals in less-stringent Pakistan, Egypt and Syria.”<\/p>\n