TCBL BUSINESS CASES
ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTION
Co-funded by Horizon 2020
ANNEX 3 TO TCBL D 4.2, 15 JULY 2017
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CONTENTS Contents..................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 1.
The Problem & the Opportunity ......................................................................................... 4
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Potential Participant Manufacturers .................................................................................. 5
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TCBL Solutions .................................................................................................................. 9 Timescale ............................................................................................................................... 9 TCBL Supporting Actions ..................................................................................................... 11
Document Information .............................................................................................................. 12
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INTRODUCTION Sustainability and environmental impact are becoming buzzwords on these days. It is therefore important to understand what sustainability really is. There is a large use of this word today one out of five commercials mention sustainability so it is an important issue for marketing – yet there is a widespread need to define what sustainability really is. In TCBL by sustainability we mean a system whereby companies rethink and improve the way they do the things they have always been doing so that a greater balance between economic environmental and social issues is achieved. This is sustainability from a planetary perspective.
Nowadays consumers are paying increasing attention to what is sustainable and what not. They ask who has delivered this and who’s delivered that how it was delivered and whether the people that delivered the product as fairly treated or not. They don’t care about the product only they want to know the entire story. As transparency concerns increase consumers increasingly play an active role in the market whatever it is. They require to be informed and involved and thereby develop trust in what they purchase. But this is hardly taken care of by companies as opacity is often cherished and cultivated. Fashion is an exemplary market for this. Environmental and social issues are increasingly coming to the forefront as information campaigns (e.g. Greenpeace DETOX Fashion Revolution Who Made My Clothes and others) are shifting the focus of consumers and producers too. Fashion cannot steer away from this concerns. The fashion industry is the second polluting industry in the world right after the producing oil and gas. Its use of resources - chemicals and water above all - is noteworthy. Its social and environmental effects cry for a global change.
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1.
THE PROBLEM & THE OPPORTUNITY
Far from being a problem as it has been generally perceived until recent times sustainability can be an important innovation factor for the fashion sector. As the market evolves towards more aware and responsible patterns and behaviours, efforts to increase sustainability can be instrumental to achieve more positive and profitable market positions for T&C firms. Surveys1 show that 58% of young people aged 15 to 20 are strongly interested in sustainable fashion. 81% of them is actually ready to pay more for more sustainable products that are both environmentally and socially sound. They just want to be able to trust the brands they purchase from who are compelled to discard opaque business practices and tricky workarounds. Google searches, too, show an upsurging interest in sustainable fashion, which means consumers are increasingly careful about what is sustainable and what not in their consuptions and lifestyles, and ask to know more down to the very fibers that their clothes are made of. As customers push in this direction, no company can dismiss the need to rethink its business model towards greater transparency and accountability. The TCBL business case on eco-sustainable production in the Textile & Clothing industry aims to demonstrate that it is possible - nay realistic and profitabe - to develop transparency in the T&C sector, and that both producers and consumers can win as production shifts towards healtier practices.
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See e.g. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2015/green-generation-millennials-saysustainability-is-a-shopping-priority.html
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2.
POTENTIAL PARTICIPANT MANUFACTURERS
Because increasing the sustainability of T&C production involves taking into account all stages of production and distribution, all kinds of companies can be potentially interested in this business case. The TCBL ecosystem already includes a number of actors at different stages of the value chain, such as producing the fibre, the thread, the fabric, the finishing etc. bu the scope and potential of the business case is not limited to them. The following is a sample of TCBL Associates who have expressed a clear interest in this issue, and want to work in this direction. More actors (businesses, labs, service providers, designers, etc) will be involved as the business case develops. 4 Sustainability (Italy) 4S is a network of competences which aims to support business labs in monitoring, analysing and collecting data from the textile and clothing supply chain production processes in order to gather them into a cloud system that is accessible by all. 4S’s analysis methodology allows to see which is the best way to manage production according to the brand's own PRSL and MRSL (Product and Manufacturing Restricted Substances Lists).
Centro Consorzi (Italy) is a consortium accredited by the Veneto Region for continuing education and services to workers. Since March 2003 it is certified for the "Design and provision of training activities". Centro Consorzi is lead by the Business Association "Rete Imprese Dolomiti" and is also partner of Euromontana - an association of 75 European members aimed to enhance the growth of mountain areas. The consortium has been promoting the clustering and "reconstruction" of local supply chains (wood-wool–hemp). Also it has launched start-ups in the wool industry through social fund projects to promote employment and regional development. In particular in 2014 a start-up project was launched in the craft textile sector aimed at the restoration and enhancement of local wool which saw the birth of three companies: 1) I lavori di Penelope 2) Textile Lana di Fanny and 3) Lana e Dintorni that are all part of the Dolomites' Wool Project. Orange Fiber (Italy) is a company creating sustainable textiles from citrus products. The company hs developed and patented a process to create a sustainable textile using citrus juice leftovers valued just in Italy more than 1 million tons a year. This byproduct is transformed in innovative yarns and textiles for fashion, which model can be replicated in every country where citrus juice is produced. This sustainable textile represents a valid and more sustainable alternative to cellulose fiber from wood whose demand is estimated to increase in the next
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Eco-friendly Production TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs
years (due to oil and cotton price volatility). The company has already started a due diligence process for its product with a number of top fashion brands to test the possibility of using the textile and enter the market within 2016. The company is interested to find out knowledge and skills required to scale up its project and exchange best practices. Giuseppe Lucido (Italy) This organization is composed by a marketing expert architects and designers with a wide knowledge of the national territory and of its dynamics. This organization is eco-sustainability oriented and is always looking for new eco-friendly materials with reduced environmental impact that can decrease pollution caused by the industry. The group aims to develop synergic processes with other European companies that can lead to new ethical principles in the sphere of industrial production. Ana Machado Silva (Portugal) As a retail company that designs its own clothing lines (kids male & female and sports clothing & accessories) this firm always look into incorporating new functionalities & innovations in its products & processes, and believes it can contribute both by bringing its retail/distribution experience and at the same time by acting as a testbed for product innovations to be experimented in the clothing & sports collections. The firm is very much focused into sustainability with special concerns in the following topics: reduction of water & energy consumption, and reduction and re-utilization of residues/waste through circular economy practices. the firm believes there is still work to do on these topics, especially as concerns the circular economy, which requires exploring and discussing new options. BESTE (Italy) The firm deals with collection design and sampling, as well as with finishing, dyeing and drying, and also technical (including 'smart') textile experimentation. Beste wants to analyze what sustainability means for an entire supply chain - whether this requires a new type of organization like a consortium – in order to hold control over the entire value chain. Today the final consumer is not educated on the difference between a low/standard clothing and a clothing produced in a sustainable manner (environmental social economic sustainability). Beste hopes that the TCBL’s ecosystem can involve both the final customer and producers to develop education on products, as regards the transparency and sustainability of the entire supply chain. Lanificio Faliero Sarti & figli spa (Italy) This wool fabrics producer has a long standing experience in the T&C sector. The firm thinks that production patterns need to change towards to achieve greater environmental sustainability. The feeling up to now was that the end customer was not willing to pay more to have a more sustainable product, and clothing manufacturers were not sensitive to the theme, too. While Greenpeace is trying to raise the collective awareness the road is still long. The firm has not applied for the Detox campaign due to too stringent timeplan of the protocol. TRIS & CO. Srl (Francesco Viti) (Italy) is a company that operates as a commercial dry with continuous and discontinuous machines and makes processes of textile enoblement and post treatment for third parties. The newly established company has inherited from the two founding companies over 45 years of experience in dry cleaning and finishing of any type of tissue even with innovative machines. TRIS & CO. Srl is part of a subcontracting chain of the Prato textile district made of hundreds of small and micro companies working together in a synergic way and giving rise to any type of fabric in an artisanal way. The firm would like to see that this value of widespread crafts entrepreneurship is recognized and acknowledged within the TCBL ecosystem. Nowadays a working system increasingly based on eco-sustainability and solidarity is being developed. A project that goes in this direction is the DETOX Protocol of Greanpeace that in the coming years – next to a number of harmful chemicals – will try to eliminate perchlorethylene (tetrachlorethylene) from textile processes. At the moment - but probably in the future, too - this is not possible. The only solution at the moment is to try to limit as much as
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Eco-friendly Production TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs
possible the environmental impact of this chemical (which is in any case very limited). Since the firm makes use of perchlorethylene, it would specifically like to reduce the presence of such a chemical substance as much as possible both on washed fabrics and drains of washing machines. Varvaressos S.A. (Greece) Since its establishment in 1964 Varvaressos S.A. has been constantly in search of innovative solutions. With 2 modern spinning mills the firm commits to sustainable production. Being one of the first spinners to cooperate with Lenzing Austria the company advanced from the traditional 100% cotton yarn production to introducing Lenzings' fibers and blends of them with cotton. Varvaressos S.A. is a company that embraces diversity which is critical for the function of an ecosystem. Integrating newly developed spinning technologies improving the existing ones and adjusting to upcoming needs of the market the company can offer years of experience in the production marketing research and development sustainability and ecological awareness sectors. Reinventing the European textile industry will be challenging. By contributing to this effort Varvaressos S.A. stands up for values that support the European production and simultaneously develop mutually beneficial relationships with likeminded professionals. Lineaesse / LDS (Franco Bini) (Italy) The firm delivers: coated, rubberized and laminated fabrics; double and bonded fabrics piece dyed and yarn dyed in wool and mix blends with particular attention to finishings designs and use of original fancy yarns; exclusive structures for jerseys; double and coated fabrics for men. Lineaesse takes into account environmental concerns in its product design and development processes. Environmental sustainability along with fair trade is one of its main values. By supporting the Detox protocol the company would like to explore ways to implement it in product design and development. The company is interested the TCBL ecosystem in order to experiment new processes and software that can improve production, e.g. data analytics and T&C market trends permitting to find new customer segments and improve the business model. Lineaesse has a long lasting engagement in environmental sustainability of the T&C sector through the reduction of chemicals used. The company is interested to explore and experiment the implementation of the Detox protocol. Katty Fashion Ltd (Romania) is a Creative Romanian company set up in 2003 and an experienced producer of the entire range of women apparel - specialized in short series and customized clothing. It is a provider to more than 50 mid- and high-fashion labels in EU of high quality products and services. It is Located in the most important economic center of the NE Region (Moldavia) – Iasi. Katty Fashion Ltd deals with fashion trends, marketing, logistics, distribution, legal and regulatory aspects, policy and funding opportunities, research and development, training on environment-related issues (waste and water reduction recycling etc.), energy-related issues, social issues, business consultancy (including process and production solutions). Katty Fashion upholds sustainability, ethical commitment and care about the social and environmental impact of the garments it creates. Kingfly Tailoring (David Morrish) (UK) embraces traditional skills and methodologies while experimenting with new technologies in an attempt to create new processes to accommodate social change. Key motivators underpinning research and experimentation will be improved quality throughout the design process sustainability through positive environmental impact changing customer behavior through co design and also the curious nature of pushing boundaries to discover new and innovative outcomes. Myriam Vanheusden (Netherlands) This is a place for start ups in fashion and accessories providing office spaces and a making laboratory - high tech machinery. The aim is to weave a COMMUNITY of all disciplines and an ECOSYSTEM with respect for local production and
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Eco-friendly Production TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs
sustainability for all phases in the process from idea TO product TO market. The firm is involved in the production of different products based exclusively on natural fibers with a strong emphasis on sustainability concerns. The firm is open to sharing its know-how and tries to continuously innovate adapting its products to specific customer needs. It is very sensitive to social responsability and part of the Fashion Revolution movement, and is interested to find innovative business processes and business models for a sustainable development of the T&C business.
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3.
TCBL SOLUTIONS
TCBL is exploring solutions to sustainability issues in T&C through the know-how of one of its Associates - PROCESS FACTORY SRL (Italy). PROCESS FACTORY is a consultancy firm with long-term experience in sustainability audits and training. Process Factory works with sustainability through 4sustainability - an alliance of abilities and experiences that supports brands and chain suppliers to achieve greater sustainability in the sector. The solution proposed by PROCESS FACTORY is to design a Data Collecting Protocol for the qualification of the Supply Chain – which is now considered a must to qualify production. In order to reach this objective PROCESS FACTORY will define a technical project for a “Sustainable and transparent Supply chain” that takes into account the following main points: • • • • • • •
defining the sustainability values (figures) to be collected from the suppliers mapping of the Pilot Supply Chain building the assessments protocol definition of the Thela architecture for implementing a data monitoring system that takes into account all the stages (nodes) of the monitored Supply Chain data collection examination and analysis construction of an audit methodology and data processing for the definition of an environmental label in compliance to international standards.
This project will be implemented in partnership with the new TCBL partner Cleviria using its Thela system for data collecting across the value chain.
TIMESCALE The workplan between August 2017 and July 2018 will implement the following actions: 1. Identification of one or more products of the textile industry (preferably wool or similar fabric) which are marketed or have the potential to be marketed; 2. Identification of one or more textile manufacturing firms that have a consolidated and documented experience on the issues of sustainability of production (eg through internal training paths, or accession to approaches to sustainability protocols, Efficiency of production processes in terms of minor environmental impacts, resource utilization, 9
Eco-friendly Production TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs
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etc.), which can play a leading role in one or more production chains (for one or more commercial products, eg a product line) and other nodes of the Chains (from a minimum of 5 up to a maximum of 9 subjects) who can participate in the experimentation referred to in the subject of this tender Definition of a data collection protocol for the entire textile chain (from raw material, yarn, fabric, finishing, etc), including templates specific for collecting numerical, technical and / or procedural data for each Node of the threads identified at the previous point (both in Italian and English) Implementation of the above protocol on the Thela platform (http://www.cleviria.it/thela/) provided by Cleviria partner company of the TCBL project, including the development of guidelines for use / application Of the protocol, the creation of videos (in a minimum of 3) of tutoring for both 1) participants in the audit process and 2) future protocol managers 3) for the general dissemination of experimentation, both in Italian and in English. Involvement of one or more TCBL laboratories at European level to address specific criticalities found in the production chain, improving their sustainability, environmental impact, resource utilization, etc (eg through product / process innovations, More natural and sustainable compounds / components, improvements and design efficiency, disposal, recycling, etc.) Internationalization of experimentation by sharing / extending the audit protocol to nonnational entities to be identified among partners (companies / laboratories / consultants, etc) partners or associates or members of the TCBL community (www.tcbl.eu) Certification of the textile product audit process obtained from the chain with a certified third-party label.
A tentative schedule for these actions is as follows: Timeframe
Action
September - October 2017
Identify a commercial product (fabrics)
September - October 2017
Identify value chain nodes or enterprises
October 2017
Define an agreed protocol for data collection across the value chain
October – November 2017
Define data collection templates specific to each phase or node of the value chain
November – December 2017
Implement the protocol on the Thela platform
January 2018
Certify process (e.g. reputation / label)
February – March 2018
Involve Labs to interact with specific value chain nodes for increased value added in terms of innovation sustainability design etc
April – June 2018
Disseminate / Scale out
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Eco-friendly Production TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs
TCBL SUPPORTING ACTIONS Initial advice and support to this business case will be provided by the new TCBL partner CLEVIRIA’s long-term experience in auditing sustainability and transparency through its distributed software for monitoring and collecting information throughout the supply chain. CLEVIRIA will offer its expertise in research and development for ICT applications and services (across all application areas) in environment-related issues (e.g. waste and water reduction recycling etc.) and social issues. CLEVIRIA will support the business case to increase the transparency of the T&C supply chain through its technological know-how and the Thela platofrom - a web application that allows companies along the supply or distribution chain to share information and assess and audit each other.
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Eco-friendly Production TCBL Business Cases Textile & Clothing Business Labs
DOCUMENT INFORMATION REVISION HISTORY This document is Annex 3 of TCBL Deliverable 4.2, “T&C Business Systems: Internal Pilots”, of 15.07.2017. Authors: Athanase Contargyris (MIRTEC), Michele Osella (ISMB), Maria Adele Cipolla (eZavod), Michela Bergamin (UCV), Jesse Marsh (Prato), Paolo Guarnieri (Prato), Richard Axe (TCoE), Ruth Farrell (TCoE), Darko Fercej (eZavod), Ana Sampaio (Sanjotec), Luca Leonarsi (ARCA), and Dieter Stellmach (DITF). This Annex in particular is written by Paolo Guarnieri. REVISION Version 1 Version 2
DATE 08.07.2017 15.07.2017
AUTHOR Paolo Guarnieri Jesse Marsh
ORGANISATION
DESCRIPTION
City of Prato Prato
Draft for review Layout and minor adjustments for publications
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise. Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.
COPYRIGHT This work is licensed by the TCBL Consortium under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, 2015-2016. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ The TCBL Consortium, consisting of: Municipality of Prato (PRATO) Italy; German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research - Center for Management Research (DITF) Germany; Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB) Italy; Skillaware (SKILL) Italy; The Oxford Brookes University (OBU) UK; imec (IMEC) Belgium; Tavistock Institute (TAVI) UK; Materials Industrial Research & Technology Center S.A. (MIRTEC) Greece; Waag Society (WAAG) Netherlands; Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd (TCOE) UK; eZavod (eZAVOD) Slovenia; Consorzio Arca (ARCA) Italy; Unioncamere del Veneto (UCV) Italy; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (HCIA) Greece; Sanjotec - Centro Empresarial e Tecnológico (SANJO) Portugal; Clear Communication Associates Ltd (CCA) UK.
DISCLAIMER All information included in this document is subject to change without notice. The Members of the TCBL Consortium make no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Members of the TCBL Consortium shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The TCBL project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technology development, and innovation under Grant Agreement n.646133.
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