Levi's ups its game by introducing laser-made jeans

We probably would have never thought of wearing laser-cut clothes but seems like Levi’s is all set to change this, as the popular clothing brand is introducing jeans made up of lasers by replacing the manual labor to provide finishing touches.

Levi Strauss, commonly known as Levi’s, is going towards digitizing technology that will use lasers to create designs on its jeans, a project that they are calling Project FLX (Future-Led Execution). With this new method, Levi’s plans on removing the hazardous chemicals along with cutting down labor-intensive steps in creating jeans finishes from between 18 to 24 steps to only three.

The lasers use infrared to faintly scratch designs onto the top layer of the jeans that create the faded outlines and tears. “Our first step in the new process is to photograph the jean and then we take that and illustrate it in a way that the laser can interpret. So what used to happen traditionally 8, 10, 12 minutes with manual applications, we can now execute with the laser in 90 seconds or so,” explained Levi’s VP in technical innovation, Bart Sights.

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The Verge reported, according to the company, the clothing industry has always been using hand-finishing and chemical process to create the faded and worn designs on denim. The aim of this new technique is to achieve a ‘zero discharge of hazardous chemical by 2020’ along with cutting the number of chemicals used during the finishing process.

Video Credits: Levi's

Also, the clothing company is making use of an imaging tool through a tablet in order to generate various patterns and finishes on the jeans. Through this, the designers can modify colors and control the designs of rips.

As BBC News reported, a spokesperson of the company assured that the employees won’t lose the jobs but will be retrained and put to work in other areas. The president and CEO of the company, Chip Bergh described the process as ‘the future of jeans manufacturing’.

As per the organization, this technique will massively reduce the development in half and can also be used for large-scale manufacturing. Planning to expand the method all across Levi’s denim supply chain globally, the company expects the platform to be completely implemented in 2020.