Mill Memo: Latest Circularity News and REFIBRA™ Denim from Asia
Since in-person trade shows are still put on hold this fall, Carved in Blue is taking an opportunity to digitally connect with its community.
COVID-19 has created challenges, but it has also ushered in a “Great Reset,” allowing companies to pause and accelerate their sustainable efforts.
We touched base with denim mills in Asia to catch up on their latest initiatives to address circularity and SDG 12: responsible consumption and production. We also got the inside scoop on the newest ways they are using TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ Lyocell in their creations.
ADVANCE DENIM
China
Michael Lam, marketing director
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Michael: In response to the SDG 12, we believe people would be more concerned about the concept of circularity. Due to the pandemic, the greenhouse gas has been reduced significantly and even the sky is clearer than before. The consumers would also realize that they do not need to buy as much as before but just choose the one that they love with a sustainable concept. In this case, sustainable material and production is going to be very important in the future.
Carved in Blue: What new fabrics have you developed with REFIBRA™ Technology?
Michael: We developed the new weaving concept called Warp Loop with TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ and we patented this weaving technic. The Warp Loop gives the super soft touch just like the knitted fabric, and the back side of the fabric is very soft and smooth, much better than the regular woven knit.
The other new concept that we blended with TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ is the Wafer Recycled. The Wafer Recycled is the new performance fiber, which has excellent wicking and thermal regulation performance with post-consumer waste.
ATLANTIC MILLS
Thailand
Amrin Sachathep, director
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Amrin: Atlantic continues to pursue fair practices with our supplier chains through transparency, ethical standards for all employees, and reliability of our services to our customers. In the forefront of all of this are our sustainability goals. We have continued to reduce our water usage through recycling internally, and our carbon emissions will be net zero from 2022 onwards. All of the fibers we use in Atlantic are traceable to the farms, whether they are BCI certified or organic certified. And we continue to expand our recycled cotton range to cope with the increasing demand of re-use and recycle.
Carved in Blue: What new fabrics have you developed with REFIBRA™ Technology?
Amrin: Second Life. Qualities combine TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ with recycled cotton and we continue to promote one of our best-sellers, Dimitry. A lighter version of this is now also available. The quality here is made from 100 percent recycled materials.
BADJATEX
Indonesia
Amit Suresh, marketing manager
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Amit: We have a new product group just focused on sustainability called the Be Brave collection. Lenzing Fibers are part of the initiative.
We are doing our part on SDG 12 by starting Garbage Bank initiative.
Badjatex is taking a brave step to make the textile and fashion business cleaner and sustainable, and the world a better place for future generations.
We strive towards making our products 100% sustainable. Eco-friendliness of Badjatex covers:
- sustainable materials (TENCEL™ Lyocell, TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, organic cotton, recycled cotton, better cotton, Repreve, EcoMade Lycra(R), etc.)
- low impact chemical/dyestuff (salt-free liquid indigo, etc.)
- sustainable process (ozone fabric processing to minimize water/chemical usage)
- water savings (5.7 L of water per meter of denim, etc.)
- energy savings (30 percent)
- waste water treatment (50 percent water is recycled)
- community outreach (Garbage Bank initiative)
- packaging (usage of recycled packaging material)
- washing laundry savings (37 percent energy savings, 36 percent water savings)
BENS MODE
Taiwan
Benjamin Liao, director
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Benjamin: For SDG 12 goal, let me recall the song “We Are the World,” which was sung worldwide while people were staying together years ago. Once the people have a sympathy for the environment and living beings and recognize the importance of sharing and being fair, and then everyone could start from himself/herself not to waste any products, which will reduce mass production. Lower impact denim is correspondent with SDG 12 plan.
BLACK PEONY
China
Zhu Rongping, vice general manager
Grace, marketing manager (translated from Chinese into English)
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Zhu: The rapidly changing trade environment and difficulties rising from the pandemic encourage us to analyze consumer behavior deeply and rethink the way we serve them. As a reliable and responsible fabric manufacture, we are working to meet our customers’ needs with our sustainable efforts and innovative techniques. From a product side, we are introducing a range of fabrics which combine the concept of sustainability with functional performance. For instance, a particular fabric using TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ from Lenzing Company and [Lycra’s] T400 brings a sustainable feature, great stretch and recovery performance while offering soft hand feels and good moisture and temperature management.
In terms of marketing, prior to the COVID-19 crisis, we had introduced a digital platform in WeChat, which did bridge the gap between the clients and us. Our newest development and core collections are easily accessible online, involving the related technical information, pictures and video, which enable us to communicate with our clients in a clear and creative way. By analyzing the fashion trends, we introduced a series of “Pick in Time” to provide the clients with fabrics in stock for greater flexibility and quicker response.
With regard to production, we are committed to reducing waste and conserving natural resources from all aspects. During the production processes, we are able to reuse 70 percent of water input and reduce the consumption of water, energy and chemicals by the eco-friendly dyeing including smart indigo, aniline-free indigo, liquid indigo, etc. We also invested in new technologies such Jeanologia G2 equipment and the installation of a 60,000 m2 solar power plant. Apart from that, recycling our internal waste is also a way of our addressing sustainability.
Carved in Blue: What new fabrics have you developed with REFIBRA™ Technology?
Zhu: We have developed a range of new fabrics with TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™.
FREEDOM DENIM
China
Jason Gao, general manager marketing and merchandising
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Jason: At Freedom Denim, it’s a constant effort to work towards addressing SDG goals within the organization. We install it as an ideology in totality within our behavior. It starts with raw materials and the practice of how we are consuming. TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ plays a huge roll in those efforts. Additionally, we will be committing to only using recycled polyester or Ciclo polyester in the near term. Virgin poly will no longer be an option for consumption at Freedom Denim. The practice and mechanics of how we are manufacturing play such a huge role. For example, in Freedom Denim’s manufacturing, 40 percent recycled water is used, and that number is growing. In our eyes, the effort should be never ending.
Carved in Blue: What new fabrics have you developed with REFIBRA™ Technology?
Jason: TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ is front and center in our Soft and Supple group. RE18733A is the newest iteration of a fabric with TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ for Spring 22. The product contains 50 percent of TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™.
KURABO
Thailand and Japan
Brad Alden Mowry, Artisan Cloth, LA
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Brad: Kurabo’s pre-consumer yarn spinning waste is re-purposed by blending it with TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ Lyocell fiber. The comfortable stretch fabrics have authentic look while responding to circularity by upcycling the textile waste.
MOZARTEX
China
Mai Tseng, manager of sales and development
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Mai: Retailers are struggling to find a balance between sustainability and cost in the crisis. On the other hand, we see many thoughtful young designers set up their eco-fashion clothing brand through social media with more and more followers. These new brands are difficult to find low minimum sustainable materials, as they always have to be made by order production with minimum like at least 1 ton, which is impossible for these new brands. Mozartex are trying to support these sustainable but small inquiries and provide them green choices at low minimum.
Carved in Blue: What new fabrics have you developed with REFIBRA™ Technology?
Mai: Mozartex is one of the world’s only professional TENCEL™ dyeing mills; over 90 percent of our products are TENCEL™. We can easily change the already sustainable TENCEL™ into TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™. Sadly now still very few brands are interested in this technology, so it’s still by order made production at the moment. But we hope someday, every TENCEL™ will have a portion of recycled cotton inside.
PANTHER DENIM
China
Tim Huesemann, sales director
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Tim: SDG 12: responsible consumption and production is important as the population of the world is increasing; more people with greater buying powers are expected in the next two decades, and thus the demand for everything is increasing. It is not only about the basic needs, such as food water supply, but also the raw material of our textiles and clothes, like cotton, linen, etc. To prevent using up all of our resources, we have to educate the public to be a responsible consumer. Before that, as a fabric mill, we also have to produce the fabric in a responsible way. That is why we have joined the Jeans Redesign Project from Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The project together with Make Fashion Circular helps to enhance the circular economy by providing good quality products to the consumers, so the lifespans of the products are longer. Besides, our products are with high content in cellulosic fiber, which means even if the consumer throws the products away, it can be easily recycled.
To sum it up, we believe in our strength to cover the brands’ needs in different aspects. TENCEL™ Lyocell and TENCEL ™ x REFIBRA™ are key for all our developments, and to give those fabrics an even stronger benefit, we combine them with longer cotton fibers, “Cotton lux series,” and recycled performance stretch yarns to achieve more “durability and lasting” denims/fabrics.
Carved in Blue: What new fabrics have you developed with REFIBRA™ Technology?
Tim: Circularity is not only about using recycled friendly material in the products, but also to extend the lifespan of it. With goals towards circularity, we have a fabric developed with 57 percent cotton, 35 percent TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, 6 percent [Lycra] T400 and 2 percent spandex, #200278. It is in the group of retrofitting. Jeans with high stretch are difficult to keep their shape; we used different fiber content to control and improve the lifespan of the jeans. Together with TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, it provides the story of circularity and responsible consumption to the consumers. Nevertheless, it gives an ultra-soft hand of the jeans.
PROSPERITY
China
Bart Van de Woestyne, creative director
Carved in Blue: How are you addressing SDG 12?
Bart: By creating a sustainable production framework as well as by sustainably managing natural resources, Prosperity Textile has embraced responsible manufacturing early on and made it part of its DNA. If anything, COVID-19 has accelerated the rate at which brands, retailers and consumers alike have adopted it—genuinely. Closed loop production, low impact dyeing and low impact finishing have become standard practice. A good example of this is Prosperity’s family of Revelation Blue and Revelation Black denims, which combined with ozone finishing, will reduce water consumption by as much as 20 million gallons in 2020. This pandemic has indeed been the “great reset” and has made our customers rethink their priorities. It has encouraged them to adapt and to adopt new and more sustainable concepts.
Carved in Blue: What new fabrics have you developed with REFIBRA™ Technology?
Bart: Reducing waste generation has been a key priority at Prosperity Textile with the integration of post- and pre-consumer recycled cotton but also with fibers such as TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, which upcycles cotton scraps combined with wood pulp, resulting in a soft, yet strong fabric.
Prosperity’s re-Invent collection offers a 70 percent TENCEL™ x REFIBRA ™ /30 percent hemp denim as well as a stretch version with recycled polyester and Lycra.