Armani Bans "Killer Jeans" Following Push by Activists

The Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani SpA has committed to ban the dangerous practice of sandblasting jeans, a technique used to give jeans a used look which is highly dangerous to workers.

The news comes after a series of campaigns on Change.org by by the Clean Clothes Campaign which is an alliance of organisations in 15 European countries that is dedicated to improving working conditions and supporting the empowerment of workers in the global garment and sportswear industries. Gucci, Versace, H&M and Levi have already responded to the campaigns by pledging to ban sandblasting, and Armani now joins them with a promise to eliminate sandblasting from their supply line beginning with their autumn/winter 2011-12 collection.

“In regard to the sandblasting finish applied to certain garments, the Armani Group wishes to make clear that this technique has been eliminated from our production processes starting from the autumn-winter 2011/2012 collection that is currently available in the stores worldwide,” Armani announced via Facebook and Twitter.

Sandblasting, a process that involves workers fire sand under high pressure to give jeans a ‘worn’ look, is known to cause workers to get silicosis, a potentially lethal pulmonary disease. The process has led to the deaths of workers in garment producing countries like Turkey and Bangladesh, where jean sandblasting is done manually.

The Armani campaign ‘s success is sure to boost pressure on Dolce & Gabbana, which has to date refused to commit to ban sandblasting from their product line. A mirror campaign against Dolce & Gabbana has collected more than 38,000 supporters around the world.

“What has happened here is incredible,” said Meredith Slater, an organizer with Change.org. “People from all over the world came together to ask Armani to eliminate a practice that endangered workers, and the company responded by saying that it would ban sandblasting immediately.”

“We welcome Armani's decision to stop sandblasting starting from the autumn-winter 2011/2012 collection,” said Deborah Lucchetti, the Clean Clothes Campaign’s Italy coordinator. “We will be following up with the brand to provide information as to how they will be implementing the ban and monitoring their supply chains.”