LS&Co. Unzipped

Welcome to our blog. Here’s where you’ll find a “behind-the-seams” look at what’s going on with Levi Strauss & Co. You’ll hear from a variety of voices, from both inside and outside the company. And you have the chance to share your thoughts. So read on — and weigh in!

Aug 03 2010

Clothes Dryers: Beware!

The call to action was simple enough – design a new way to air dry your clothes that would eliminate the need for a dryer and improve on the basic clothesline.

Levi Strauss & Co. called it the Care to Air Design Challenge, and those of us here at Myoo Create spread the word – to the whole world. The only caveat to entering was that design submissions had to be innovative, covetable, effective and sustainable.

Levi Strauss & Co. even offered up $10,000 in cash prizes – how’s that for incentive?

When the entry deadline arrived this past Saturday, we were all thrilled to see that more than 140 folks from Malta to Massachusetts put their creative air-drying solutions on the line.

Entries ran the gamut from out of the ordinary to the aesthetically pleasing to the incredibly practical.

Then came the task of narrowing down all of those design submissions to the top six finalists – including the community contributor who provided the best and most valuable feedback on the work of their fellow designers – what a task!

At Myoo Create, we were thrilled to host the contest for Levi Strauss & Co. Why? Well, a lifecycle assessment of a pair of Levi’s® 501® jeans revealed that, on average, almost 60% of the climate impact comes during the consumer phase. Nearly 80% of that is due to the energy-intensive method chosen for drying.

The Care to Air Design Challenge created the opportunity to help change that. And I have to say that Myoo Create members are all about helping to solve environmental challenges through community collaboration and a little healthy competition.

With this in mind, I’m happy to announce the finalists, three chosen by the folks at Levi’s® based on the established criteria and three chosen by community members of MyooCreate:

Myoo Create Crowdsourcing Finalists

Inertion Power – Andrey Kotsyuba; Ukraine

Levi Tower – Godzilla Team: Gediminas Kirdeikis, Aiste Dzikaraite, Petras Vestartas; Lithuania

Strauss Spin ‘n Dry – Jay Zapata & Jamie Evans; United States

Levi Strauss & Co. Finalists

Hang Anywhere X Aria – The Way We See the World: Chelsea Briganti, Ingrid Zweifel, Monica Bhatia, Leigh Ann Tucker & Gregory Davis; United States

The Evaporation Station – Jeff Munie and Marlowe Baca; United States

Nothing Is What It Seems – Caleb Hill; Canada

And, true to the community spirit of the Care to Air Design Challenge, in the end we decided to recognize not one but two top community contributors: Dr. Russ Hornstein and Luft.

Check ‘em out! I’m pretty impressed, myself. There’s a wonderful mix here of genius and imagination and skill. And I can’t wait to see who wins.

Stay tuned. We’ll find out on August 16 when an esteemed group of judges gathers in San Francisco to make the decisions. Given the contest goal, I predict one winner will be…our planet.

Posted By: Rebecca Petzel, Collaborative Innovation Head, Myoo Create

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Tags: Care Tag,Energy,Levi Strauss & Co.,LS&Co,Planet,Social Responsibility,Sustainability

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Andrew Skeels (not verified) - Sep 30 2011

I find a need to only air dry dockers because they come out of the dryer looking like I slept in them. (Except the No-Iron) The no iron Dockers are nice but too expensive for work clothes. $30 more for no iron. So I no longer waste my time ironing Dockers. I now buy Dickies because they come out of the dryer looking great at 1/3 rd the price. The Dockers line is too inconsistant in size, color and style. Their sizes are very inaccurate, not true to length or waste. I don't care about a name, just a pair of pants that's not a pain to maintain and keep looking great out of the dryer.

Editor's note: Hi Andrew. Sorry to hear that you're not satisfied with your Dockers®. If you think this might be some kind of defect, please contact our Consumer Relations team. They may be able to help you out. Thanks for your comment.

Sharon Knettell (not verified) - Aug 12 2010

Where can I get this? Nothing is what it seems.

Editor's note: Thanks for your comment -- and your interest in this particular entry. It's not currently for sale, but you may want to stay tuned. The Care to Air Design Challenge contest results will be announced next week. If "Nothing is What it Seems" is a winner or a runner-up, there may be sufficient interest to put it into production!

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