FYI, the link didn't work for me (got a 404 in the page), but the list of articles from chicago reader underneath had the relevant article as the first result (the difference seems to be this arg: ?oid=72967174)
For the record, each pair of Uniqlo jeans uses an average of 100 litres of water to wash.
A staff said that each wash cycle typically requires about 80kg of pumice stones. But after just one wash cycle, they’ll be reduced to half their size. “The stones turn into waste,” Matsubara explained. “They break down into tiny bits and when discharged, they pollute the water system.”
In fact, the very same distressed design can be replicated with precision on other pairs of jeans many times over. A designer just has to create the pattern on the computer beforehand, and the laser system can churn out 60 pairs of jeans per hour, compared to the 10 per hour using manual labour.
“Instead of using pumice stones to wash the jeans, we’ve developed our own eco stones made of polymer,” he said. “They don’t break down and won’t pollute the water system.”
And the biggest issue of water usage? A staff said that no water is added at all in the wash with the eco stones. The jeans are placed into the machine wet and that is all the moisture used. “The nanobubble technology turns water into moisture particles to cut down water usage by 99 per cent,”
"...we know by now that if social media platforms get us addicted, they are working well. The more they wreck our lives, the better they are functioning. "
Also, curious what inspired you to create this? (I haven't a lot of knowledge of the space or existing tools for micro blogging.)
Thanks!