Planet Textiles Summit Provides A Blueprint for Denim Change
How should the denim manufacturing industry make jeans by 2025? And what breakthroughs in technology and thinking are needed to make this happen?
These will be some of the key talking points at the special session on denim production taking place at the Planet Textiles Summit on sustainability on 22nd June at the giant ITMA event in Barcelona.
Everyone owns a pair of 100 percent cotton jeans, but why does this have a greater impact on the environment than making denim with man-made cellulosic or bast fibers? And what about synthetic options. Do we really need to use elastane for stretch and comfort?
Indigo dye is synonymous with a true blue denim look, but its use is problematic – not just because of the lengthy, resource-heavy dyeing process, but also because of some of its potentially hazardous properties. How can the industry exit indigo from denim production – and what options are there for the industry to avoid chasing labor rates at $50 USD per month production in places like Ethiopia?
Moderated by Andrew Olah, the founder of the Kingpins denim exhibition that takes place in New York, Amsterdam and Hong Kong, panelists include: Sanjeev Bahl, CEO and founder, of the Vietnam denim mill Saitex, Alberto Candiani, CEO of Italian jeans maker Candiani Denim Mills, Miguel Sanchez, with 30 years in the denim industry, and owner of Gavilan, along with Mike Kininmonth, denim specialist at cellulosic fiber producer Lenzing, which is supporting this session. Delegates at Planet Textiles will hear about some of the key changes to how jeans are produced along with some of the predicted changes to how denim will be made – and sourced – in future.
A proposal to develop a ‘blueprint’ for real change that buyers’ retailers and brands can use as a sourcing guide will be outlined. But do the companies that sell us our clothes really care about the resources they use and that often go unreplenished?
Are new technologies such as laser technology to produce distressed denim really cost-effective? And do they have their own drawbacks to workers safety?
Overall, does the phrase ‘sustainable denim’ have a real meaning any longer? Or is it now just used as a marketing term and sales opportunity? What if we changed the word ‘sustainable’ to either ‘rational’ or conversely ‘irrational’ when it comes to denim production to make a clear distinction between good and bad practice?
These are some of the changes now needed by the denim sector, according to Planet Textiles panelists, if the industry really is to clean up its act before 2025 and certainly within the next decade.
It is possible. We do have the technology and clear thinkers in the denim sector to make these changes.
Explore what actions are needed, why they’re needed, and how you can be involved on June 22 in Barcelona. Register here today to become part of the solution for change.
This article originally appeared on Ecotextile News. It was republished here with permission.