Mill Memo: Inside Mexico Manufacturers’ Eco Efforts
Denim mills are cleaning up jean production, and one of their moves is evolving raw material choices. Wood-based TENCEL™ fibers offer a lower impact alternative that comes with the added benefit of improved softness and durability.
Here, executives from Cone Denim, Global Denim and Twin Dragon discuss how they are using TENCEL™ Lyocell and their climate action strategies.
CONE DENIM
Pierette Scavuzzo, design director
Carved in Blue: Could you give an overview of your latest collections that include TENCEL™ fibers including REFIBRA™ technology?
Pierette: We are very excited to launch a very special product capsule this season featuring our U.S hemp launch. This group of fabrics include U.S.-grown hemp fiber and U.S. natural plant-based indigo that are all blended with REFIBRA™ and BCI cotton. The REFIBRA™ Technology fibers are a nice contrast to the rustic nature of hemp and add to the overall circular fiber story.
Carved in Blue: Are you currently incorporating TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color technology or matte TENCEL™ lyocell into your denim?
Pierette: We are launching two new products using TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color technology out of our China denim mill. We developed one rigid fabric using a more classic authentic denim construction; we loved the idea of using an iconic base construction and pairing it with this modern indigo innovation. We also added a “flex” stretch option that can work across a range of silhouettes and gender.
Carved in Blue: What top three things is your mill doing to combat climate change?
Pierette: For our mills in Mexico, the top three things that we are doing to combat climate change include our cogeneration system, the establishment of facility greenhouse gas reduction roadmaps in line with our science based targets, and our continued uptake of sustainable cotton and fibers.
The cogeneration system at our Parras facility efficiently produces both electricity and steam from natural gas, meaning we reduced the use of electricity from the power grid by 90 percent. Overall, 50-70 percent less fuel is now burned to produce the electricity and steam used in our operation.
Our corporate science based targets have been incorporated into a GHG reduction roadmap for each facility, with monthly tracking of progress and regular review of projects and efforts that are part of the roadmaps.
Our sustainable cotton uptake has increased in volume each year since we set our sustainable cotton sourcing target in 2019: 80 percent by 2025. We align our definition of sustainable/preferred cotton with the industry organization Textile Exchange, which includes sourcing through the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol (USTCP), Better Cotton and organic cotton. These cotton initiatives all provide reduced greenhouse gas emissions by improving land and resource management during the growing process.
GLOBAL DENIM
Anatt Finkler, creative director
Carved in Blue: Could you give an overview of your latest collections that include TENCEL™ fibers including REFIBRA™ technology?
Anatt: Unfortunately, due to market demands and price hikes, we are not using REFIBRA™ right now, although it is something we envision in the future. Nevertheless, we are using TENCEL™ blends into new laser-friendly collections we are developing at the moment.
Carved in Blue: Are you currently incorporating TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color technology or matte TENCEL™ into your denim?
Anatt: We haven’t incorporated TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color Technology yet in our collection, but are planning to test it this year and see how the market reacts to these amazing innovations.
Carved in Blue: What top three things is your mill doing to combat climate change?
Anatt: Global Denim is doing many things to combat climate change, from which we can find:
Creating clean renewable energy, which we use to operate our own mill, other mills around us and provide electricity to light up all the area around where our hydroelectric power plant stands in Orizaba Veracruz.
We are diminishing our use of water, energy and chemicals by expanding our water treatment plant and implementing chemical recovery and recycling machines and programs and changing our machinery to newer efficient and eco-friendly ones.
Implementing a circular economy model where waste doesn’t exist. In our Ecoloop program, we are reusing all our waste and our clients’ and partners’ cutting denim scrap to make new yarn and incorporate them into our fabrics. Today all of our fabrics have a percentage of recycled cotton.
TWIN DRAGON
Lisa Harris, director U.S.
Carved in Blue: Could you give an overview of your latest collections that include TENCEL™ fibers including REFIBRA™ technology?
Lisa: Our Americana collection combines sustainable modern technology with old-school classics to create a truly sophisticated vintage denim. We incorporate blended natural, recycled and TENCEL™ fibers in engineered comfort constructions for defined twills that are soft, durable and with a genuine marble effect. Products are 13 oz. and higher, dyed in liquid indigo and eco finished, offering the most modern sustainable denim available that has the benefit of being biodegradable.
Carved in Blue: What top three things is your mill doing to combat climate change?
Lisa: Our vision towards every premium denim is driven by social responsibility, sustainability and traceability.
We converted a lot of our finishing procedures from using gas burning machines to electric power, which reduces the release of carbon into the air (eco finishing) and also eliminates hazardous discharge of chemicals.
Another one of our efforts is eliminating fresh water usage. By working with the local government, we were able to offer the residential areas fresh and clean water for their use. The government then recycles that used water to send to our mill for production. After filtering through the mill, the water is recycled once more, and we distribute 25 percent of the unsoiled water to local farms for irrigation. This process eliminates the wasteful use of clean water at the production level. This is traced and certified by the local government for transparency and traceability.