Today we had a scavenger hunt that took us around the city of Amsterdam. It took us to various historical landmarks and monuments. Some of these include the Royal palace, and the National Monument toward World War 2 victims. Later in the day, we went to the House of Denim where we learned about how denim is made, and recent advancements in the sustainability of that process. For example, they were able to reduce the water consumption required to make a pair of jeans from 6000 liters per pair to 600. They also showed us several machines that made the process of washing and weathering jeans much quicker and cheaper. We learned that certain types of denim are also more or less taxing on the environment to make. One example is selvedge denim requires more water initially, but it also does not require chemical washes that are polluting, making it better for the environment in the long term.

Denim is very important in the culture of the Netherlands. When you are walking around, everybody you see is wearing jeans. The Netherlands is known as the “Denim Capital” of Europe. This is due to multiple popular denim companies making their headquarters in Amsterdam, such as Gstar and Blue Blood. For Dutch people, jeans are both a fashion statement as well as a practical, durable fabric that will last. The denim factory that we toured, House of Denim, was created to combat against the “fast fashion” that is prevalent in our society. By producing quality clothes that last and stand the test of time, less clothes will end up in landfills.