Environmental Impact Measurement (EIM), a global standard for assessing the environmental impact of garment finishing, released its second report, “Denim Industry Progress and Insights 2025.”
The report focuses on the latest EIM dataset based on standardized methodology and identifies how the denim finishing industry is making “steady progress” toward low-impact production. EIM assesses water and energy consumption, chemical impact and worker health, classifying each into low, medium or high impact according to industry benchmarks.
Based on the analysis of 100,200 real denim finishing processes from 359 manufacturers, the report shows that 66 percent of processes are now classified as low impact, with strong performance in energy efficiency and stable water consumption levels. Denim processes represent 90 percent of the finishing processes report.
The industry average EIM score is 34, placing most garments in the medium impact level. The average water consumption per garment is 30 liters, average chemical impact is 53 and average worker impact is 16—all which EIM designates as medium impact. The outlier is energy consumption with the average per garment being 1,90 kWh, which is classified as low impact.
“Legacy practices” continue to slow the adoption of more sustainable alternatives, according to the report.
The denim industry’s use of pumice stone is one example of this complacent mindset. EIM said half of the processes are classified as high impact for chemical impact due to the stones. However, the report notes that pumice stone use is down two percent compared to last year.
Chemical management remains the most challenge area across the sector and impacts overall environmental performance. The report shows that 46 percent of chemical processes are medium impact, and 27 percent are classified high impact.
Worker health impact is a bright spot in the report, which 68 percent of processes classified as low impact. One area of improvement is a reduction of potassium permanganate, which was recently added to the ZDHC Chemical Watch List. Still, EIM reports that 15 percent of the analyzed processes continue to use the chemical.
The report also notes that while many laundries have implemented practices to improve water efficiency, the industry may be approaching a “efficiency plateau.” Other technologies and system-level improvements like upgraded facilities and water treatment infrastructure, will be needed for further reductions.
Overall, EIM states that the results reflect an industry in transition and that the next phase will depend on the speed at which existing solutions are adopted.
