You Can Get Gift Cards In Exchange For Old Levi's With The Brand's New Buy-Back Program

Jeans get better with every wear, never go out of style, and are made to last, but none have as much resale power as a trusted pair of Levi's. As the brand's been on a mission in recent years to become more sustainable, it launched on Oct. 1 a new initiative to help it in its endeavors — and benefit you in the process. Levi's is launching SecondHand, a buy-back and resale program. This means, not only can you recycle your Levi's jeans for a gift card, but you can also shop vintage denim with more ease than ever. Rather than spend hours at a thrift store flipping through racks of jeans, you can shop pre-worn, Levi's pieces on SecondHand's website.

"It makes so much sense for the brand. We already have the dominant share of the vintage and secondhand jeans market," Levi’s chief marketing officer Jennifer Sey told WWD. "If we all chose to buy a used pair of Levi’s instead of a new pair, it would save 80% of CO2 emissions, and about 1.5 pounds of waste." Also, extending a garment's life by an extra nine months reduces carbon, waster, and water footprints by about 20% to 30%, according to SecondHand's website. Beyond the sustainability of this new initiative, it's also a straightforward way to get authentic, retro styles.

But how exactly does it work? Well, you can grab any old pair of Levi's jeans and denim jackets you no longer love and drop them off at a participating Levi's store. Depending on the quality of your denim, you can get a Levi's gift card from $5 to $25. After you exchange your denim, it'll be cleaned, sorted, and listed on SecondHand's website.

This isn't Levi's first attempt at more sustainable practices. Since 2011, the brand's Water<Less program has saved more than 3 billion liters of water. It's also created WellThread, a line of low-impact garments that can be easily recycled.

Thrifting sustainably just got so much easier. Whether you're looking for '70s bell bottoms or 2000s low-rise denim, you can find authentic, Levi's jeans on SecondHand. And if you get tired of them, you can always sell them back.