How green is that jean?

Salon's The Good Life column recently looked at jeans to see how Earth-friendly the fancy eco-labels really are.

According to Salon's sources, organic cotton fiber may still be sprayed with fumigants when it's brought into the U.S. due to laws meant to keep immigrant bugs out. And "made with organic cotton" garments can contain as little as 3 percent of the good stuff.

Almost as bad are the dyes to make denim blue, and the finishers and bleaches that give your trendy jeans that lived-in look. These can release tons of harsh chemicals and potential carcinogens during the manufacturing process. Not so eco-fabulous anymore.

What's a stylish planet-lover to do?

Personally, I like vintage jeans because you're not adding new chemicals into the mix. Raising cotton uses about 25 percent of the world's insecticides. Garments in thrift-stores aren't increasing the load.

If you do buy new, look for organic cotton that's grown in the U.S, to avoid that import spraying. The U.S. is one of the top two producers of organic cotton (Turkey is the other), so this shouldn't be difficult.

The harder part is finding out about the dyes and finishes. Ask for materials using low-impact dyes (though don't get fooled by promises of natural dyes; those aren't necessarily safe in production).

Avoid all those crazy finishes unless the seller explicitly says they're created by hand, not by chemicals. Pre-faded knees, whiskering, faux-dirty rinses, and simulated aging all add junk to the fabric while polluting the planet. And stone-washing is rarely done with stones these days; the effect is usually achieved by chemicals.

Let your jeans get a natural, lived-in look the old-fashioned way — by you, living in them! Or take some coffee and a cheese grater to give a pair of jeans that cool, vintage look in an eco-friendly fashion, a la this ThreadBangers video.