VALENCIA, Spain — The addition of potassium permanganate (PP) to the ZDHC Foundation’s Chemical Watchlist marks a significant escalation in industry oversight of denim finishing chemistry and strengthens the direction of travel toward eliminating PP spray from production. With potassium permanganate on ZDHC Chemical Watchlist, brands and laundries face growing expectations to justify continued use or replace it.
Jeanologia, which has long campaigned against PP spray, says the listing aligns with warnings it has issued for more than a decade about the practice’s risks to workers, operational safety and the environment. PP spray is widely used to create localised “vintage” effects on denim, but it can expose operators to airborne micro-particles and other hazards. Despite the availability of alternatives, Jeanologia argues the method remains in use in some parts of the supply chain, affecting large numbers of workers globally.
The company says it removed the need for PP spray in 2015, describing itself as the first technology provider to offer an industrially scalable alternative based on laser finishing. Today, Jeanologia positions its laser system using its Light Bright tool combined with G2 Ozone technology as a way to achieve authentic worn effects without chemical spraying, while enabling digital process control, safer working conditions and consistent production performance.
Jeanologia’s Environmental Impact Measuring (EIM) platform is presented as further support for the shift. In the Innovations and Challenges in Denim Finishing 2024 Report, EIM identifies potassium permanganate as one of the remaining high-risk garment-finishing processes and highlights the need to accelerate safer technologies, reinforcing laser-based approaches as lower-impact options.
“PP spray belongs to the past. This is not about compliance; it’s about protecting people and transforming the way denim is made. The tools to eliminate PP already exist and are fully scalable. What the industry needs now is courage to move forward. It’s time to BAN PP SPRAY and embrace a cleaner, safer future for denim.” claims Jeanologia’s Global Marketing Director Carmen Silla.
Over the last decade, Jeanologia says it has progressively replaced several of the most hazardous finishing techniques with “eco-efficient” alternatives, including early action on sandblasting and scaled solutions intended to replace stone washing, manual scraping and PP spray. The company says its laser and G2 Ozone technologies are now deployed worldwide, helping brands replicate desired aesthetics while reducing chemical use, improving worker safety and lowering water consumption, with impacts that can be measured across production sites.
As chemical-management standards, transparency expectations and ESG reporting requirements continue to evolve, Jeanologia argues that early adopters of safer finishing are building a competitive edge. With potassium permanganate on ZDHC Chemical Watchlist, the company is urging brands, laundries and manufacturers to accelerate chemical-free finishing, emphasising that the tools are already available at industrial scale and that the remaining barrier is industry willingness to move faster.