Ford says it's using recycled clothing, especially jeans, as a way of greening up the Focus. It's not a new concept at Ford. The automaker already makes upholstery in some of its SUVs out of recycled plastic milk bottles.

"Ford is continually looking for greener alternatives," said Carrie Majeske, product sustainability manager. "One of our key goals is to use more recycled or renewable materials without compromising performance or durability. Recycled content is a way to divert waste from landfills and reduce the impact of mining virgin material."

Over the past several years, Ford has concentrated on increasing the use of non-metal recycled and bio-based materials, including soy foam seat cushions, recycled resins for underbody systems, recycled yarns on seat covers and natural-fiber plastic for interior components.

"The good news is these jeans didn't end up in a landfill, nor did we use the water, fertilizer and land to grow virgin cotton," Majeske said.

The amount of post-consumer cotton from blue jeans used in a vehicle comes out to roughly two pairs of average-sized American jeans, based on pounds of cotton used per yard of denim and the yards of denim used to make a pair of jeans.