SDG Decoded: SDG #12 – Responsible Consumption & Production
As we found with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 in the first installment of SDG Decoded, SDG #12 – Responsible Consumption & Production – is among the most crucial priorities within the denim community.
Determined to undo decades of harmful production, today’s designers and makers are creating with a conscience, mindful of both the small and large impacts their work can have on the planet and the people within it.
Carved in Blue talked to Closed, Tejidos Royo, Calik Denim and Anuhba Industries to learn how they’re making progress on this front—and how much they have accomplished.
Closed
Carved in Blue: How are you tackling SDG #12?
Laura Reinke, digital editor: Producing responsibly is one of our main concerns. Eighty percent of our products are made in Europe—to keep distances short and to ensure high ecological and ethical standards. We have been working with most of our production partners for decades and visit them regularly.
We think that sustainability also means creating the same conditions for all workers. Our longstanding partnerships have resulted in a code of conduct for ecological and social guidelines that is signed biannually by our partners. It guarantees fair wages, fixed working hours and paid overtime, as well as safe and hygienic working conditions and no child labor.
Producing responsibly also means treating the environment and animals with respect. Closed does not process fur, angora or down. Our wool is mulesing-free, and the cow and lambskin we use are exclusively by-products of the food industry. We make sure that all animal fibers come from animal farms that comply with internationally valid production guidelines.
Furthermore, it is very important for us to produce our collections with less of an environmental impact. Our own eco-friendly denim line, A Better Blue, uses less water, chemicals and electricity thanks to innovative washing methods and low-impact dyeing techniques. We also use eco-friendly materials, for example TENCEL™, TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, recycled fabrics or organic cotton.
And one more thing: We try not to over-produce—and we would never dispose unsold items. We have been giving items that didn’t sell in our outlets and factory sales to a Chilean charity organization for many years. The clothes are sold in Chile and the complete proceeds support a music school for children in need.
Carved in Blue: What does this goal mean for your company?
Laura: The goal to produce our collections in a more sustainable and responsible way is something that is very important for us at Closed. It’s part of every decision we make in every department—from design to marketing, from production to e-commerce. It results in little things like offering an eco-friendly packaging alternative in our online shop and in bigger things such as producing our bestselling light-blue Pedal Pusher denim with 100 percent organic cotton from next year on.
Carved in Blue: How do you see this shaping up for 2020?
Laura: In order to produce our collections in a more sustainable and responsible way, we will have even more A Better Blue products in 2020. Starting with the spring/summer collection 2020, a lot more of our essentials will be made of organic cotton. We are moving our shoe production to Italy completely in order to keep distances to our main markets even shorter. And we plan to release our first sustainability report by the beginning of 2020—with even more plans and goals for the near future.
Tejidos Royo
Carved in Blue: Can you tell us how you’re tackling SDG #12?
Jose Rafael Royo Ballesteros, sales director: We’re committed for a better usage of our resources, reducing the environmental impact. We have developed the unique technology Dry Indigo® after more than 10 years of research and development. Together with Gaston and IMD, we have created a revolution that is going to change the denim industry: dyeing indigo without water with an eco-technology certified by Aitex for foam dyeing.
With the Dry Indigo® technology, we reduce the use of chemicals by 89 percent, the use of energy by 65 percent, and we have zero water waste (there is no water used, so there’s no water to clean).
Calik Denim
Carved in Blue: Can you tell us how you’re tackling SDG #12 and what it means for your company?
Pinar Demirel, marketing manager: Global challenges affect the business world and drive the industry to adopt sustainable business models. Changing consumer behaviors, technology and digitalization, climate change, resource scarcity and demographic change are the main challenges that denim industry faces. We respond to these challenges in a sustainable way with the Passion for Denim, Passion for Life strategy to make a positive impact for a better life. This passion drives us to become a leading denim brand to deliver change in the industry.
Our purpose is to embrace our products, stakeholders and the environment by three main pillars, which are leading innovative products, creating a positive impact for/with stakeholders, and reducing our impact on the environment.
With our Passion for Denim, Passion for Life strategy we create value on a focused set of SDGs. Achieving the Global Goals could open up an estimated $12 trillion in market opportunities for the private sector. Our activities contribute to SDG #8 – Decent Work & Economic Growth; SDG #9 – Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure; SDG – #10 Reduced Inequalities; SDG #12 – Responsible Consumption & Production; SDG #13 – Climate Action; SDG #14 – Life Below Water; SDG #15 – Life on Land; and SDG #17 – Partnerships for the Goals.
Among these, SDG #9 and SDG #12 have specific importance for the denim industry. Two of our strategy’s three main pillars—leading innovative products and reducing our impact on the environment—directly contribute to these SDGs. Through our entire value chain, natural resource consumption—especially water and energy consumption—and chemical pollution cause severe environmental and health impacts. We know that we must consume and produce responsibly and, in order to do so, we need innovation and technology to develop sustainable products and processes.
At Calik Denim, we are investing in creating innovative and sustainable technologies and reducing our impact on the environment with the help of these technologies, and we create more value-added and eco-friendly products so that we contribute to both SDG #12 and SDG #9. We manage our production processes and supply chain with the help of R&D and innovative technologies. Incorporating technology to management serves to manufacture competent products with less environmental impact and enables us to be more transparent with our stakeholders.
We opened our R&D center in 2011 and we set a substantial R&D budget for developing innovative products every year. We have developed D-Clear and Denethic concepts to meet industrial requirements and needs, which introduced a sustainability and efficiency centered approach in the denim industry. The other system that we develop as a pioneer in Turkey is Transparency Monitoring System which provides transparency in production.
D-Clear technology integrated in dyeing processes enables to reduce water and chemical consumption. D-Clear makes it possible to use 40 percent less water during indigo dyeing and 83 percent less water during the finishing of denim. This means a reduction of over 5 liters per meter of fabric produced. The overuse of harmful chemicals is also avoided, with the new technology marking a decrease of 94 percent by lowering the chemical use from 150 grams per meter to 9 grams. We plan to systematically adopt the D-Clear technology in 50 percent of our collections by 2020, 75 percent by 2023, and 100 percent by 2025.
Denethic technology provides heavy wash effects on denim garments to reach authentic/vintage denim looks with less water, less chemicals and less energy compared to the regular denim fabrics. Denethic fabrics offer considerable water saving values. We save 44 percent, 15 percent and 32 percent water for a rinse look, rinse and enzyme look, and bleached look fabrics, respectively.
The Transparency Monitoring System is a system that provides to track the performance of the machinery at their mill. This system enables us to optimize resource consumption and improve where necessary. We are a pioneer in the industry with regards to the Transparency Monitoring System.
Carved in Blue: How do you see this shaping up for 2020?
Pinar: We developed our Passion for Denim, Passion for Life strategy in the light of SDGs. We consider our contribution to focused set of SDGs when we set our annual, short- and long-term targets and plans.
Our R&D and innovation projects are continuing with sectoral collaborations. We set targets for 2025 regarding environmental sustainability, sustainable raw material procurement, innovation and thought leadership, and stakeholder rights. Some of our targets are reducing carbon emissions, water consumption per unit production, increasing the power generated from renewable resources, increasing the impact of R&D, product development and innovation investments on the profitability.
Anuhba Industries
Carved in Blue: Can you tell us how you’re tackling SDG #12?
Chetan Tare, head of sustainability: We have adopted an SDG Engagement Framework comprising of three impact opportunity clusters across eight SDGs where the textile, apparel and retail industry can have the most direct impact. Out of this we are specifically working on goal SDG #12. This goal resonates with our aim to create a sustainable supply chain by making responsible products with minimal impact on the environment, end consumers and on the people involved in the manufacturing process.
For this we have an input stream management strategy of using sustainable raw materials like organic cotton, Fair Trade organic cotton, BCI cotton, recycled polyester, TENCEL™ and REFIBRA™. We are a Bluesign® system partner, which not only focuses on using “clean chemistry” but also on the fundamental aspects of environment, health and safety parameters at the production site. Bluesign®-approved chemicals are compliant with the ZDHC MRSL level -3, the most stringent MRSL criteria in the industry.
Recently we had a collaboration with Mud Jeans in designing their pocketing fabric with our 100 percent organic cotton fabric ethically woven and carrying our message.
Carved in Blue: What does these goals mean for your company?
Chetan: Anubha Industries has been set up with a holistic approach with an aim to create a responsible denim supply chain. We consistently commit to the goal of becoming the most sustainable denim company in India.
SDG #12 further strengthens our endeavor. It is also helping us to explore new opportunities in responsible product development and process innovations to make our complete supply chain sustainable.
With an increased focused approach on increasing our environmental management performance in our manufacturing supply chain, we make continuous improvements in our production processes. As a result of process innovations, we have been able to reduce 33 percent of blue water consumption since inception. We reuse about 70 percent of process water back into production process.
On the energy side, we have been able to save around 450 kwh of electricity per day and 2 tons of coal per day as compared to produce 1 kg of fabric.
Carved in Blue: How do you see this shaping up for 2020?
Chetan: In 2020 we will take another step forward in our sustainable journey and to work achieving the targets set for year 2025. Reducing blue water consumption in our supply chain is our main target, and we are working on adopting new technologies to reduce 70 percent of our blue water consumption by 2025.
On the raw materials side, we are developing a strategy of using 100 percent preferred cotton in our supply chain by 2025, and increasing the use of recycled polyester, recycled cotton, REFIBRA™ and hemp in our product portfolio. We will also focus on measuring our scope -3 greenhouse gas emissions of our entire supply chain and set reduction targets in order to contribute to tackle the problem of climate change.
We will be communicating our sustainable efforts and impacts through verified Higg scores of 2018 and 2019.