[Photo: courtesy Uniqlo] advertisement advertisement Creating a stonewashed or distressed look on a single pair of jeans requires 15 gallons of water. Uniqlo, which makes upwards of a million pairs every year, wants to cut down on this water consumption. advertisement advertisement Last year, the Japanese retailer opened a Jeans Innovation Center in Los Angeles to develop more eco-friendly approaches to manufacturing jeans. Today, it unveils its first major innovation: BlueCycle, a new manufacturing process that uses 99% less water in the finishing process, which softens and distresses denim. Given Uniqlo’s enormous scale—its parent company is the world’s most valuable clothing retailer—this new approach could have a large impact. Still, given the perilous state of the planet, it’s worth asking whether incremental improvements like this are enough.