The latest edition of Kingpins24 held digitally on February 23 and 24, 2021 revealed lots of new technology meant to lower the denim industry’s environmental impact. The SPIN OFF selected some of the most interesting products (and words) shared during panels, talks and presentations….
Ebru Debbağ, Soorty
“Our new Smart Blue system, a technology of chemical equipment developed in collaboration with Garmon, can be used at different levels for fabric and garment dyeing. It brings innovation ahead by blocks to designers, manufacturers, the various stakeholders and the consumers. This way you involve the whole community in that dialogue."
Pierette Scavuzzo, Cone Denim
“Cone Denim has debuted The Very Best of Times denim collection, a timeless collaboration between denim greats who share their passion for denim authenticity and sustainability like Cone Denim, Miles Johnson and Tonello. From fiber to finish, this heritage-inspired, sustainable collection features natural indigo, organic cotton, recycled cotton, hemp, naturally soft techniques and sustainable natural dyes, all designed with a modern lens. It features 12 timeless garments and totes inspired by denim authenticity and workwear resurgence. Vintage and retro garments include historical and modern examples of work pants and classic jackets with unstructured boxy designs, functional pockets and unisex silhouettes.”
“We developed Refresh Jeans, a denim washed with 100% recycled water. AGI Denim recycles 300,000 gallons (1.135 million liters) of water daily, that means an average of 4.4 millions gallons (16.6 million of liters) of water saved every month. That’s enough to wash one million pairs of jeans. AGI Denim’s new effluent treatment plant will help recycle a million gallons (almost four million liters) more of water daily by 2022; that would meet 85% of our daily fresh water needs. We also want to become fresh water neutral by 2025.”
Omer Ahmed, Artistic Milliners
“We will create our Circular Park built upon 70,000 sq. feet (6,500 sq. meters) of land, that will be powered by solar energy. It will be the collection center for all of our soft and hard waste, mostly from spinning and table cuttings from our garment division. From there they will be properly sorted and will go through highly advanced and automated shredding machines by French specialist La Roche.
If you look at the sustainable fibers on offer today, organic cotton is too expensive (and it’s something that will not drastically change); cottonized hemp is hard to be mixed with cotton and not cheap either; the new regenerated cellulosic fibers are extremely short in supply; the fibers that can be obtained from recycled PET are still derived from petroleum, which in the end is not good for the environment. So we remain with only a few sustainable options like post-consumer waste and post-industrial waste.
Cem Ozan Sari, Calik Denim
“Dyepro is a new dyeing technology that requires no water and doesn’t release waste dye as chemicals are reused. When we compare this technology with all other dyeing methods, ours is effective at room temperature, it can be used more times and uses substances that are less harmful to nature, therefore it produces fewer emissions. It is also different from conventional methods as others follow three steps–preparation of the yarns, dyeing bath, and washing baths–while our own technology skips the first and third passages that require a lot of water.”
Andrea Venier, Officina+39
“Water is essential and critical for life. According to a study by an Italian textile university washing down a pair of jeans requires 50 liters. Thanks to our Aqualess technology we can achieve the same results by using 12.5 liters of water, which is about 75% less than the standard water consumption.”
Sedef Uncu Aki, Orta
“A recent report by Circular Economy, the Circularity Report 2020, says that in the world only 8.6% of the materials we use are recycled back, a figure that is constantly diminishing as in 2018 was reported to be 9.1%. As circular economy ensures we produce fewer materials and lower our emissions, we have started our new project Closing The Loop with Gama, a Turkish garment recycling company. This way we will be able to repurpose in our production approximately 3,000 tons we mainly generate from our spinning production. Through this project we want to create a close loop model for the industry.”
“We have recycled 180 million PET bottles through our commercial agreement with Unifi for the supply of Repreve. With Repreve we cut 45% energy consumption, 20% of water consumption and 30% carbon footprint. In 2019 through our Blue Loop program we recycled 27% water in our indigo department. By 2025 we aim to recycle 100% of the water we use in the entire production.
Thanks to industry 4.0 investment of energy efficient machinery we consume 15% less energy per meter of fabric produced. Since 2019, 100% of our energy comes from our own renewable resources. Our electricity-induced carbon footprint decreased 97%. We use carbon dioxide to neutralize our wastewater in the facility. Our target is to become carbon-neutral by 2025. Through various projects and strategies we have started a partnership with Ellen Macarthur Foundation and for our s/s 2021 collection we aim to use 100% recycled polyester in every newly developed fabric.”
Jose Rafael Royo, Tejidos Royo
“Starting from mid-April 2021 we are going to offer a 100% recycled fabric that is made with a blend of cotton and uses a new Hyosung-Creora Regen, a GRS-certified elastomeric made with 100% recycled elastane from 100% reclaimed waste."
Mike Simko, Creora-Hyosung TNC
“Creora has developed a bio-based spandex fiber. We have replaced 30% of the raw material that is usually oil-based or derived from chemicals with one that is corn-based. This new product is very similar to our typical power fit Creora, though it is a more sustainable alternative to our traditional spandex fibers.”
Aydan Tüzün, Naveena
“Our new Wraptech 2.0 is a ‘future-fit’ fabric with five key attributes: comfort, innovation, strength, versatility and sustainability. It is a tri-core technology fabric that combines high stretch Lycra fiber with the exceptional recovery and low shrinkage of Lycra T400 fiber. It has many properties like, for instance, an excellent shape-retention and recovery that gives garments a comfortable fit that lasts all day–they stretch, but don’t constrict.
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