Mill Trends: The Latest in Who’s Doing What With REFIBRA™ Technology

Mill Trends: The Latest in Who’s Doing What With REFIBRA™ Technology

Since we’re all practicing social distancing, we’re bringing the market to you.

Carved in Blue caught up with a series of leading mills to find out how they’re addressing circularity, and what new styles they’re bringing to market with TENCEL™ Lyocell with REFIBRA™ technology.

Here’s what they had to say.

AGI Denim, Pakistan

Henry Wong, product development and marketing director

We are actively promoting products with maximum cellulose fibers which can be more easily mechanically recycled and upcycled. Available mechanical-recycling systems are not perfect yet but we believe progress is being made in this area. For every program containing synthetic fibers, we are questioning if we can make a change. Unfortunately, much of the decision here does not rest with us as a producer working for brands/retailers. Fortunately, the current fashion trends support this direction towards cellulose-dominant fabrics and if the fashion industry uses this momentum to educate consumers the ecological cost of some of the products we make, the demand for “better” products will drive what we suppliers, well, supply.

We continue to offer our standard REFIBRA™ range. There are both REFIBRA™ with recycled cotton and REFIBRA™ blended with fresh cotton.

Berto, Italy

Francesca Polato, marketing manager

We are addressing circularity and sustainability with everyday job. Sustainability is a process closely linked to research and innovation. Over the years, all production processes have been redesigned and improved to ensure maximum efficiency. In the last seasons, the symbol of our circularity has been a group of articles called “PIANETA,” these fabrics have inside a high percentage of recycled cotton that comes from the regeneration of our own production waste. They are GRS certified and we are really proud of them.

Bossa, Turkey

Özge Ozsoy, marketing chief

Starting from 2019, Bossa has begun to use all of its textile wastes in its blend by opening and cleaning them. We believe that this path, which Bossa set out with the zero waste principle, will inspire other stakeholders in the denim industry and the companies making all denim production in the medium term will adopt the zero waste principle. Bossa, which has transparently explained its production figures for the last three years with “Towards Zero Waste” booklet, will continue to annually report its production values. Inspiring from denim origins we create “Heritage” concept. Keeping our roots in the ground of denim history we created real heritage looks with innovations in technologies and contents. They are in the old flavors that we miss and the performance of the fabrics is superior.

We have REFIBRA™ and TENCEL™ blended heritage rigid and comfort stretch denims. An “old-look new denim” is born. This is the look you like with all the advanced performances discovered so far and together with the will to go towards a more sustainable way to produce and create wonderful denims.

Badjatex, Indonesia

Amit Suresh, marketing manager

We are working with our spinners to source yarns for circularity. We are building collection around circularity using suitable fibers and sustainability taking care the processes and chemicals. We should have it ready by Jun/Jul 2020 when hopefully the situation normalizes.

Panther Denim, China

Tim Huesemann, sales director

We address circularity:

  • By using more recycled material besides REFIBRA™ and TENCEL™ will be our focus this season.
  • Using recycled water in production in order to reduce water consumption of denim per yard
  • Using zero water dyeing process, we called it C-zero.

Our newest garment styles, which we offer with REFIBRA™ technology:

  • Style: 5 Pockets Slim Fit
  • Theme: Earth
  • Blends: 43% Cotton 38% REFIBRA™ 18% Polyester 1% Lycra

Royo ,Spain

Santiago Rodriguez, sales manager 

As part of the textile industry, it is our duty to design, develop and manufacture in a way that reduces our environmental impact.

Tejidos Royo has a strong commitment to sustainability and the implementation of a responsible business model. We are integrating circular economy strategies as part of our philosophy. We create “FABRIC WITH VALUES”—recycled fabrics that reach the highest quality standards. The difference lies in the production process, we consume less natural resources and generate less waste, so our environmental impact is exponentially less. Our recycled products are certified through GRS (Global Recycled Standard). The GRS oversees the entire supply chain and it is based on the traceability of materials, environmental aspects of the process and social responsibility.

In this way, we reduce the gap between the current scarcity of resources and the global growth of consumption. We strive to offer the best products while limiting our carbon footprint and setting an example for the industry.

Naveena Denim Mills (NDM), Pakistan

Aydan Tüzün, executive director of global sales and marketing

Circularity is a really important area we invest in constantly. We have recently invested in a new PCW system to save cotton and recover waste from the market. With this new investment, we can process up to 5 tons of fabric per day, which can then be spun and woven back in with new cotton for completely new jeans.

We apply REFIBRA™ technology in different blends and different processes. Our ZEVOLUTION fabrics use REFIBRA™ instead of cotton and looks, feels and wears like any other denim, but without the impact of fertilizers and the pesticides. We offer this season 40%-60% elasticity in 11-12 oz fabrics.

SOORTY, Pakistan

Eda Dikmen, marketing manager

At Soorty, we gladly call ourselves as engineers at heart with a need to be regenerative and restorative by design. For us design and development are key points of sustainable production and a responsible lifestyle, considering the life cycle of a product starts already when being designed. At its core, design is about improvement and making things better; design thinking is the key to developing goods that allocate and utilize correct resources efficiently. This is why at Soorty we are offering our world of denim, designed for life. This covers responsible resourcing, manufacturing, production and distribution and we have been taking a step further for a long while now with our initiative Future Possibilities that works as an online and offline platform of transparent information in multiple layers from events that touch the end customer to gatherings with industry players, engagement points and experience marketing focused activities as well as a resource for anyone who is interested in a clean, circular lifestyle on our website: https://www.future-possibilities.com/ 

Cradle to Cradle. Soorty’s advanced design system for developing sustainable products based on circularity, was recently enhanced to the entire value chain ensuring responsible production from fabrics to finished garments; as we gladly became the first in the denim industry to receive the accreditation from Cradle to Cradle in both fabrics and garments.

Denim Kind. Our new LEED-Platinum certified production unit where technology, aesthetics and ethics meet to design the future of fashion. It was dreamed, designed and realized to be future proof. It is the most sustainable mass garment production facility in the world. The fashion industry is highly resource and labour intensive; and we aim to disrupt it with Denim Kind which:

  • reuses 85% of its water input
  • captures 95% of the sunlight for solar panels which power the sewing floor 
  • recycles 90% of the waste it produces
  • collects rainwater
  • uses the latest technologies, innovations and machinery in garment manufacturing that reduce consumption of natural resources.
  • When brought together, all these save enough water to meet the daily needs of 15000 people.

SmartCare. Our latest initiative facilities the approach to the next step as it represents our commitment to conserve the environment and dedication to revolutionize the future of denim washing. SmartCare utilizes technology which has evolved over the years with consumers’ buying needs. It is safe, reliable and sustainable. We owe it to future generations to give them a better bright future. Using DENIM AS A POWER OF GOOD, we at Soorty do so by utilizing a holistic approach for denim manufacturing – designing for purpose and applying processes which respect our planet, its resources and the people. 

  • Laser: Aging raw denim is a long-loving process. Designed for purpose, Soorty offers a variety of laser friendly fabrics and worn-in finishes with the aging beauty of denim eliminating the use of massive amounts of water, energy and chemicals.
  • Ozone: Uniquely replacing the use of many chemicals that are conventionally involved, the ozone machine takes the air from the atmosphere and transforms it to ozone. 
  • Core: Automated solution for increased efficiency in laundry, creating both uniform and contrasting effects, bringing out the full potential of the garment. Drastically reduces water use, and enables us to create special dyes with extremely low environmental impact.