How Trim Makers are Helping to Build a More Sustainable Jean
As the denim industry continues its push to make less impactful jeans, it can’t overlook the less visible components that go into these garments.
While much of the eco-friendly focus has been on the materials that go into denim textiles, trims—including thread, buttons, zippers and care labels—also contribute to the carbon footprint of these designs.
A Carved in Blue webinar on Aug. 25 brought five trim producers together to discuss how they are handling the pandemic and their latest innovations in sustainability. From biodegradable buttons to TENCEL™ Lyocell thread, these advances are helping move denim in a more circular direction.
During the pandemic, these companies have also pivoted to a more digitized way of working. Trim makers also developed solutions to support the denim world as brands and manufacturers shifted to make personal protective equipment.
Here is some of what they had to say.
On the importance of circular design:
“I believe that 95 percent of the consumers when they are buying a product, they are not even concerned about the end of the cycle. So it’s up to the brands to develop these products so that they are circular. That’s why we have tried to find solutions to offer to the designers,” said Vitor Teixeira, head manager of Crafil.
On the benefit of traceability:
“That is proving to be a lifesaver for a lot of brands that had previously invested in RFID in COVID times, because it really does give that transparency into your inventory, and having that accuracy to be able to fulfill orders from anywhere. And then moving on from that, which is much more consumer facing, to bring that transparency to consumers I think needs to begin with RFID,” said Amy Lee, senior manager global trends and insights at Avery Dennison.
On the education SDG:
“Through education, we believe people can contribute to sustainable development, and that’s why we provide sustainable training in our companies,” said Elif Sertkaya, head manager of Deridesen Etiket.
On the issues of recycling zippers and buttons:
“Have we ever think about the perfect circular garment? So it’s probably the one which is made of as few types of material as possible, ideally even just one material. Although there are promising technologies for the moment, which will soon be able to sort them out, unfortunately we don’t have a technology for the moment that will automatically separate all the different materials from each garment,” said Suat Odabasi, key account sales and sustainability exec at YKK.
On COVID-19-era marketing:
“It is clear that digital is growing fastly, and it will stay, and we are supporting this. In this COVID time, our digital interaction of course increased with everybody. So we have lots of our virtual meetings increased, we are using social platforms much more than before, we are creating some different webinars, we are using different platforms,” said Arzu Turgay, global accounts manager at Coats.
Watch the full webinar below.