Global Denim, Jeanologia and Lycra Join Forces to Propel Nearshoring
One of the most impactful ways to reduce fashion’s carbon footprint is by shortening supply chains, cutting down on transportation-related emissions.
Keeping manufacturing to one region requires collaboration, and a new initiative from Global Denim, Jeanologia and Lycra offers an example of how the denim industry can establish nearshoring alliances. Dubbed Oneness, the collection was made in the Americas in Global Denim’s Mexico mill and Jeanologia’s Miami finishing facility.
Together, the partners created 11 denim garments using fabrics developed with different Lycra technologies including Lycra dualFX, Lycra lastingFIT, Thermolite EcoMade and Coolmax EcoMade. The styles showcase various fits and finishes.
At Lenzing, we have built manufacturing facilities around the globe, including in Alabama, to place our fibers closer to textile mills and garment makers. We’re inspired by what Oneness illustrates about the potential for cross-industry collaboration to make nearshoring work.
Fresh off Oneness’ debut at Kinpins New York last week, we caught up with three of the executives behind Oneness—Anatt Finkler, creative director of Global Denim; Pepa Silla, strategy business manager Miami office at Jeanologia; and Ebru Ozaydin, global strategic marketing director, denim and wovens at Lycra—to hear more about the collaboration.
Carved in Blue: How did this collaboration come about?
Ebru: All the partners of this collaboration are a firm believer of UN Sustainable Development Goals and follow the mission of SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. As we might all remember, SDG 17 talks about “[Strengthening] the means of implementation and [revitalizing] the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.”
Global Denim is a strong partner of The Lycra Company in Central America, and we’ve been working on many innovations specifically for North American customers. They offer a range of amazing fabrics with Lycra dualFX, Lycra lastingFIT as well as Coolmax and Thermolite fiber technologies.
Almost a year ago, Anatt and I were talking about a nearshoring concept and agreed upon the fact that the trend is there, but the solution was not clearly defined and communicated with American brands and retailers. They have challenges to connect the dots and are asking for help to find solutions from our teams separately to explore alternatives in the region. The Lycra Company has a production facility both in Monterrey, Mexico and Waynesboro, Virginia. Global Denim is based in Mexico. Simultaneously, we’re closely following Jeanologia’s Miami Innovation Hub. There are few options in NA where you can do wash developments who is heavily focused on garment wash sustainability. Based in Spain, Jeanologia’s investment made a debut in the region, not only for innovative but also sustainable washes. I was also surprised how well-equipped they are in Miami, where you can explore endless possibilities in garment washing without travelling to Spain.
Then, we brainstormed about a layered solution across the denim value chain, working on a capsule collection to showcase the power of the collaborative innovation as well as an educational panel and invited Mr. Robert Antoshak, who is an expert and thought leader for apparel sourcing. We just want to show a solid example from fiber to finish what is really possible…with simplicity in mind!
Carved in Blue: Why did you decide to focus on nearshoring? What was the main impetus behind this Americas-centric product development?
Pepa: Jeanologia is a technology disruptive company that is focused on bringing sustainable solutions to the textile industry through process innovation and technology.
We are pioneers in the science of garment finishing and we produce technologies capable of processing denim washing, garment dyeing and garment washing by using minimum water and chemical impact and optimizing the manufacturing processes through digitalization and automation.
As a technological company in the textile industry and following our Mission Zero, we believe that nearshoring is a must for optimizing operational models to eliminate overproduction waste and be able to produce closer to the consumer.
Our mission in the USA is to be close to brands, the real game changer of the textile apparel industry, and help these brands grow on their transformation journey towards automation, digitalization and sustainability. For that, we have opened our new innovation hub in Miami in the center of Wynwood Arts district, where we have our latest technologies in order to create any type of denim development. With this center, our purpose is to offer brands an innovative and creative space where they can design and develop denim collections onshore through the latest technologies and through our help and the collaborations we have in the industry to scale their collection developments directly to production. We have more than 300 customers in the America region and more than 1,000 machines operating in production available to scale any development that has been done in our Miami Hub.
Thanks to this model, today it is a possibility to design in the USA and manufacture nearshoring in countries like Mexico in a sustainable, agile and flexible way.
Carved in Blue: Beyond the stretch materials from Lycra, how did you create a shorter supply chain for raw materials?
Anatt: Of course, it is a challenge that every raw material we use comes for a shorter supply chain, but we try to ensure most of the elements we use to make our fabrics are eligible for the USMCA so we can provide fabrics to our customers that have the duty-free quality.
Carved in Blue: How did you leverage Jeanologia’s facility in the States for finishing?
Anatt: Jeanologia’s new innovation hub in Miami is a remarkable tool for mills and brands to come together to develop new collections and get a hands-on experience on how the entire process works.
It is the perfect place to come together to explore, analyze and potentialize the capabilities of our denim in the Americas.
In our collection and collaboration, we went to Jeanologia Miami from the very start to analyze the laser capabilities of our fabrics as well as the performance of the fibers. We analyzed how Lycra technologies work, as well as special fiber such as TENCEL™. After gathering this knowledge, we saw the potential of using their technologies such as ozone and the new process Atmos. And then after, we went ahead and washed the collection based on the idea of authenticity and vintage-inspired looks.
Carved in Blue: Were there any surprise benefits of cooperating with closer supply chain partners?
Ebru: When we collaborated on this collaboration, we mainly focused on the key benefits of proximity, efficiency and agility. That helps a lot keeping the focus in innovation, time-to-market and managing resources. However, during Kingpins Show NY, we were really surprised about the positive feedback and realized how hungry the industry is regarding such a key-lock solution. It was not only U.S. but also Canadian brands who got interested in such a collaborative effort.
Carved in Blue: What are the remaining challenges of creating fully nearshored or onshored denim pieces?
Anatt: Nearshoring is no easy game, but as it holds so many benefits it is something very worthy to explore.
One of the most pressing challenges is logistics, pricing and culture of work. We have to understand that no two countries and hemispheres have the same way of work, logistics and dynamics, so brands need to explore the territory and understand this in order to succeed and thrive.