Pro Denim: Orta Talks About the Future of the Fabric
As more mills and makers pay greater attention to putting out product with less impact on the environment, fiber blends become key to developing fabrics.
For Turkish denim mill Orta Anadolu, developing modern fabric alternatives contributing to a more sustainable future for the industry. And it wants the consumer on board, too. Starting with its AW 19/20 collection, every Orta fabric will come complete with its own QR code that can be scanned to show the results of its impact on the environment.
The aim, according to the company, is greater transparency in the manufacturing process.
Carved in Blue caught up with Orta to find out more about what its ZEROMAX fabric is doing for denim.
Carved in Blue: Can you tell us a little about your zero cotton denim fabric?
Orta: ZEROMAX is Orta’s denim fabric family that is made to feel better. ZEROMAX delivers maximum soft share with the use of TENCEL™ Lyocell, which drapes next to skin with a shaping stretch. It’s the revolutionary soft denim that is also soft-hearted for the planet as we give cotton some love and let it stay wild.
It’s zero cotton and maximum feeling delivered with the luxurious next-to-skin gentle hand. ZEROMAX is the ultimate sustainability co-op in the denim industry combined with Indigo Flow and coupled with conscious luxury and sophisticated structure. This family is woven with minimum impact to share the future of denim due to no use of cotton, which contributes to environmental pollution through the use of water, pesticides, land use and chemicals in its production process. Moreover, it’s crafted with unique twill and elasticity fusion that has a softer luster on the face.
Carved in Blue: Why did you develop a denim fabric without cotton?
Orta: While developing our ZEROMAX denim line for our AW19/20 collection, we considered cradle-to-gate perspective (from fiber production to finished fabric at mill) in production of an average denim fabric where more than 90 percent of water is consumed only during agriculture. We also considered the fact that one-third of water is consumed in the indigo dyeing stage. That’s why we combined zero cotton content with our INDIGO FLOW process, which is our standard as the most sustainable indigo dyeing process possible, where we took gate-to-gate perspective in account (from yarn production to finished fabric at mill).
Carved in Blue: What are the key sustainability initiatives at Orta?
Orta: At Orta, our aim is to create a more robust denim ecosystem where art (design) meets technology and sustainability for infinite possibilities of denim today and tomorrow. With this commitment in mind, we put Orta Blu in everything we do and today sustainability is business as usual as we define Denim 4.0. In this era of change, Orta is making a bold commitment to be a leader in transforming the denim industry with the most advanced technologies. We believe that: “While our footprint is what we take from the planet when we consume, our handprint is what we give back to the planet when we create change for better.”
We have embraced INDIGO FLOW as our standard dyeing process since our SS19 collection. Every fabric is made, and will be made using the INDIGO FLOW process that is proprietary to Orta. With INDIGO FLOW, water usage is reduced up to 70 percent and with use of GOTS certified fixing agent, the waste water is cleaner due to no salt formation, which leads to 60 percent less BOD [biochemical oxygen demand] and COD [chemical oxygen demand]. Moreover, we save energy as no heat is needed for fixing.
Carved in Blue: What made you decide to use TENCEL™ Lyocell?
Orta: In our aim to create a more sustainable future, we worked with TENCEL™ Lyocell in our ZEROMAX concept. The first reason for this decision is the fact that TENCEL™ Lyocell is one of the most sustainable solution as a fiber and it has been shown in Lenzing LCA [life cycle assessment] studies where TENCEL™ Lyocell consumes less freshwater and energy, and requires less land use. We also observed an improvement in freshwater use and land use in our own LCA records of TENCEL™ Lyocell based fabrics.
Another reason for embracing TENCEL™ Lyocell as the main content in our ZEROMAX fabric family is that the fiber is closer to conventional cotton in terms of strength. And we process TENCEL™ Lyocell better during rope dying or slasher dyeing process. TENCEL™ Lyocell also provides additional sustainable benefits during laundry due to less use of softeners.
Carved in Blue: What has been the brand reaction?
Orta: With the launch of our AW19/20, ZEROMAX has been one of the most favorite in the overall collection that constructed an inquisitive basis in our search to create a more sustainable and stimulating future. Most of the brands are involved in the zero cotton concept, as their consumer wants meaningful connections to the brands they support. Consumers and brands demand ethical, transparent and quality denim more than ever, and are ready to explore new horizons that would offer them.