Giorgio Armani has committed to ban the dangerous practice of sandblasting jeans, a technique used to give jeans a worn look which seriously damages the health of workers.

“In regard to the sandblasting finish applied to certain garments, the Armani Group wishes to make clear that this technique has been eliminated from our production processes starting from the autumn-winter 2011/2012 collection that is currently available in the stores worldwide,” Armani announced.

“What has happened here is incredible,” said Meredith Slater, an organizer with Change.org. “People from all over the world came together to ask Armani to eliminate a practice that endangered workers, and the company responded by saying that it would ban sandblasting immediately.”

“We welcome Armani’s decision to stop sandblasting starting from the autumn-winter 2011/2012 collection,” said Deborah Lucchetti, the Clean Clothes Campaign’s Italy coordinator. “We will be following up with the brand to provide information as to how they will be implementing the ban and monitoring their supply chains.”