Levi Strauss invented blue jeans more than a century ago. Now, it is trying to automate the way they are made. The brand’s parent company, LS & Co., plans to use lasers to create the holes, fraying and fading that give trendy jeans their worn look, a previously labor-intensive process that required garment workers to brush the fabric with sandpaper, rotary tools and chemicals. A laser can finish a pair of jeans in 90 seconds, compared with up to 20 minutes for hand-finishing.

Source: Wall Street Journal February 27, 2018 13:52 UTC