Arvind Deepens Denim Traceability with TextileGenesis
Coming out of Covid-19, traceability is vital to meeting customer demand. Over half of consumers want their fashion to be sustainable, and about 80 percent desire more transparency from brands about their supply chains.
Brands are responding to this growing need for eco-friendly fashion, and over the last few years, leading labels have set targets for fully sustainable and traceable products. As part of this push, they are aiming for 100 percent sustainable raw materials. But determining whether they are actually meeting those goals is a challenge without visibility into the entire chain. As companies face stricter standards, whether external regulations or self-imposed targets, traceability is a means of determining compliance.
TextileGenesis is working to solve this issue with a blockchain platform that enables fiber-forward visibility for brands. In the system, each kilogram of fiber is assigned a “fibercoin” in the blockchain. This digital twin travels with the fiber throughout the supply chain, and each time the physical material changes hands, so does the fibercoin. This enables companies to verify the authenticity of a material—such as organic cotton or recycled polyester—by ensuring the volume of a fiber claimed matches the amount received. Since the blockchain data is centralized, it can’t be tampered with. Comparatively, conventional manual ways of tracking chain of custody rely largely on paper certificates, which has led to some instances of forgeries.
Since it was founded, TextileGenesis has picked up more than 25 brand partners and over 35 fiber producers into its mapping solution, including Lenzing, Unifi and Hyosung. Lenzing has been working with TextileGenesis since 2019, when it began piloting traceability solutions for TENCEL™ and LENZING™ ECOVERO™ with brands like H&M and Mara Hoffman. Currently, about 80 percent of the world’s lyocell production is tracked on TextileGenesis, and it also covers about 15 to 20 percent of the world’s cotton. Earlier this year, TextileGenesis launched its first cotton partnership with the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, a program that collects and verifies sustainability data on participating U.S. growers.
The platform has also onboarded more than 1,000 fabric suppliers. Indian textile mill Arvind is among these partners, and is using TextileGenesis to track from fiber to finished good. Part of the TextileGenesis program at Arvind involves tracking materials in its Renaissance textile-to-textile recycling division, which reuses both post-consumer and post-industrial cotton. TextileGenesis also allows Arvind to track its cotton sourced from India and recycled polyester.
“At Arvind Denims, it is our constant endeavor to bring the latest in design and innovation to our key customers backed with a promise of sustainability,” Aamir Akhtar, CEO, lifestyle fabrics – denim at Arvind, told Carved in Blue. “This is another step in that direction.”