MOST of us love wearing blue jeans because they’re fashionable, versatile and long-lasting.
However, the process of obtaining the characteristic blue colour of jeans, using indigo dye, is harmful to the environment.
Indigo dye occurs naturally in the Indigofera tinctoria plant, but because the demand for jeans has rocketed over the years, a synthetic version has been created.
The issue, however, is that neither natural nor synthetic versions can dissolve in water without chemicals being added to make it soluble.
Researchers in Denmark have now developed a new way to make this process happen using an enzyme called indican, which is similar to indigo, and promises to be more environmentally friendly than current methods.
How is the use of indican better?
To colour one pair of jeans, 113 litres of water are needed.
The chemicals in the water can cause significant harm to
