How Calik is Tackling Wood, Water & Waste
At the heart of sustainable action is life. Efforts such as cutting carbon or adopting more conservative resource management is about prolonging quality of life for all the Earth’s inhabitants.
For Turkey’s Calik Denim, this sentiment comes across in its tagline, “Passion for Denim, Passion for Life.” In environmental sustainability, Calik’s 2025 targets include increasing its renewable energy generation and use, and reducing carbon emissions per unit produced by 20 percent. The mill is also aiming to reduce waste by 30 percent and cut back water used per item by 30 percent.
The mill’s targets are wide reaching, but Carved in Blue caught up with Calik Denim to chat about how the company is addressing three specific pillars of sustainability: wood, water and waste.
WOOD
Sustainability is not only about cutting back; it’s also about adding to the planet in positive ways. Calik recently participated in the third edition of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s “Breath for the Future” project, tied to National Tree Plantation Day on Nov. 11. Calik volunteers planted 11,111 trees in Malatya this year, part of the government’s aim for 252 million total saplings—three for each of the country’s 84 million citizens.
“We are proud to be a part of this project and contribute towards a sustainable and green future with our Passion for Life!” said Çiğdem Kaçar, product marketing manager at Calik.
WATER
Calik is among the textile producers using TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color technology. Instead of conventional dyeing, these fibers are spun-dyed, meaning the color is incorporated into the viscous modal solution before it is extruded.
The modal fibers were launched in February, and now almost a year later, Calik is working to expand its products available with the indigo fibers.
“Until now, we worked two different constructions with Indigo Modal fiber as super stretch. One is for women, the other is for men,” said Çiğdem. “We keep working on Indigo Modal trials to create new projects. We would like to combine Indigo Modal technology with some of our innovative fabric technologies.”
The pigmentation technique for TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color technology saves water over conventional dyeing, but Calik has also lowered the water consumption for these textiles with its finishing processes. “We did different wash trials, however, to be honest we were surprised, especially with the result of laser application,” Çiğdem said. “It is absolutely over our expectations as it provided such a premium, clean look.”
WASTE
Waste is another issue that impacts both life on land and in water. To cut back on waste, one industry initiative is circularity.
At Calik, circularity includes choosing recycled materials such as cotton, polyester and TENCEL™ Lyocell with REFIBRA™ technology. REFIBRA™ replaces some of the wood pulp in lyocell production with cotton scraps, creating a second life for post-industrial and post-consumer waste.
“Since we always aim to do more and more to contribute to the protection of our planet, circularity is something we care a lot about,” said Çiğdem. “With this approach, we included widely TENCEL™ Lyocell fiber with REFIBRA™ technology in our latest collection named BluEVASION. In both our E-Denim and Re/J product concepts, we have many articles that include this circularity featured fiber in the composition.”