Uniqlo has launched its BlueCycle jeans program, an eco-friendly denim production process developed at the company’s Jeans Innovation Center in Los Angeles. As per the Sourcing Journal, the program aims to innovate traditional denim production.

BlueCycle reduces the amount of water used in denim finishing by up to 99 percent and replaces labor-intensive sandpapering with laser technology. The water savings are measured against the company’s study of regular fit jeans made between 2017 and 2018.

To achieve this water reduction, Uniqlo has replaced natural pumice stones that require large amounts of water to wash away residue, with reusable, powderless eco stones. The process is combined with an ozone mist washing machine that uses nanobubbles, which breaks up the denim surface, resulting in jeans that have a softer hand feel.

Uniqlo reported that the jeans are finished to the same standard of quality as traditionally finished jeans with “just about a teacup’s worth of water.