Denim Today | OCT 2018 | Textile Today by Textile Today

Fabric to denim laundry

Unveiling industry best practices

O c tob e r 2 01 8 A Textile Today Initiative l Published with Volume 11, Issue 10 l Pages 79 to 93

October 2018

G-star Raw to boost further sustainable denim sourcing from Bangladesh

Bangladesh Denim Expo to explain production simplicity

Fabric to denim laundry

Balancing between sustainability and fashion is the crying need for the denim sector

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 Denim Market

Bangladesh’s denim exports to EU: Opportunity and challenges Bangladesh has enormous opportunity to grow its denim exports to EU. To tap the opportunity, Bangladesh should focus on research and innovation. Staff Correspondent Bangladeshi denim products are increasingly becoming more popular to European consumers as the export earnings continue to rise and stood at €917.14 million in eight months of the current year. According to Eurostat, statistics directorate of the European Commission, latest data, in January to August period of 2018, Bangladesh earned €917.14 million exporting denim goods to the European Union Countries, which is 4.23% higher compared to €879.84 million in the same period a year ago. Bangladesh, the largest exporters of denim products to EU, in 2017 exported denim products worth of €1.30 billion – a 0.54% hike from 2016’s €1.29 billion. The reason behind exports rising Talking to Textile Today, sector people opined that China shifting created a great opportunity for Bangladesh as the world largest exporter of clothing products is moving towards the hi-tech industry. It is leaving the manufacturing of clothing products due to environmental hazards. In addition, Bangladesh has increased the capacity of fabrics production in the last couple of years, which also helped to attract more orders from global retailers of denim goods. On safety improvement in Bangladesh apparel sector is another reason for raising work orders from the EU buyers. “As we all know, due to rise in carbon emission and rise in workers wage, China is leaving

Bangladesh Textile Today |

the production of apparel products and moving toward hitech industry. As a result, global buyers are increasingly moving to Bangladesh for denim products,” Anwar-Ul Alam Chowdhury, Managing Director of Argon Denims explained the Textile Today. On the other hand, Bangladesh is now recognized as the safest workplace in the globe as the Accord on Fire and Building Safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety have certified the apparel makers as safer, said Anwar, also a Former President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). These boosted the investors’ confidence on Bangladesh to source goods from Bangladesh, he added. “Bangladesh has two opportunities one is a reasonable price and another is the capacity to execute a large volume of work orders. This is why; Bangladesh is attractive for sourcing to global buyers,” Former Advisor to caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the Textile Today.

Figure: Bangladeshi denim products are increasingly becoming more popular to European consumers.

In remaining competitive in the European Union countries, the manufacturers have to move for more value-added products so that it can meet the demands of buyers. To this end, manufacturers have to make an investment on research and development to innovate new designs and products, he added. “Bangladesh has enormous opportunity to grow as it has come up with new technology and investment to improve capacity, and of course quality,” Denim Expert Ltd Managing Director, Mostafiz Uddin said the Textile Today.

There is also the challenge of port congestion, which causes lengthy lead time, a big concern for the manufactures as well as the global retailers, said Mirza Azizul Islam.

In tapping the opportunity, Bangladesh should focus on research and innovation as the future of denim lies in innovation, added Mostafiz, also Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo, an international platform to promote Bangladeshi denim sector to the global buyers.

The economist urged the Bangladesh government to take effective measures to improve port capacity to ensure smother shipment of finished goods and timely delivery of imported raw materials.

In every year, we are organizing the Bangladesh Denim Expo twice to make the manufacturers familiar with the latest technology and innovation. The ninth edition of the exposition will be held on November 7 and 8 in Dhaka, he added.

Remaining challenges and way outs

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Denim Insight

‘Balancing between sustainability and fashion is the crying need for the denim sector…’ Jamal Abdun Naser, Director, Shasha Denims Limited

Shasha Denims Limited (SDL) has started their glorious journey after the establishment in 1998 and now it is one of the finest and greenest denim fabric producers in Bangladesh. Over the years, the company has been researching sustainable technology which enables the company to produce top quality denim products. They are deemed as a top exporter from Bangladesh to the EU and Australian markets. Lately, Textile Today FT Research team met Jamal Abdun Naser, Director of Shasha Denims Limited. Through the conversation, many unknown stories came out.

with fibers rather it is a mechanical trapping in the fiber. As a result, we need a lot of water in the indigo dyeing process and this cannot be a sustainable process. Keeping this context in our head, we have developed a new process of Indigo which consumes 60-80% less water and 40-60% fewer chemicals compare to any conventional Indigo process.

Textile Today: Shasha Denims Ltd. started its operation in 2000 with the latest sustainable technology and vision, please share us the sustainability story of Shasha.

So here we make a perfect bridge of fashion DNA and sustainability together. Figure: Jamal Abdun Naser, Director of Shasha Denims Limited. And we named it ‘Balance’. We have been working for this ‘balance’ restlessly since long.

Jamal Abdun Naser: 18 years back nobody bothers about sustainability but Shasha was born with the concept of sustainability having the most modern technology of that time. If you see the last span of time, the word ‘sustainability’ has come repeatedly in the denim sector. The question may arise ‘why’. My answer is, denim is a product where indigo and sulfur dyestuff is used to dye the warp yarn. Indigo is the single color in the world which has been ruling in the clothing world since the last 6000 years. But like a coin, Indigo has also its two faces. One face is fashion DNA of Indigo and another is its huge water consumption character. Unlike reactive dyestuff, Indigo cannot create bonds

But like a coin, Indigo has also its two faces. One face is fashion DNA of Indigo and another is its huge water consumption character. Unlike reactive dye-stuff, Indigo cannot create bonds with fibers rather it is a mechanical trapping in the fiber. As a result, we need a lot of water in the indigo dyeing process and this cannot be a sustainable process. Keeping this context in our head, we have developed a new process of Indigo which consumes 60-80% less water and 40-60% fewer chemicals compare to any conventional Indigo process.

Textile Today: How Shasha Denims Limited promoting and working for sustainability? Jamal Abdun Naser: Denim is a product which deserves fashion along with sustainability. Definitely, you won’t buy a product if it has no fashionable look whether it is sustainable or not. That’s why we are balancing this gap as I have already mentioned our process. Apart from the process, our entire raw material also contains sustainability. So in this regard whatever we are producing, we give importance in two affairs about that product. First of all, it should be sustainable and secondly, the product needs to be fashionable.

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 Denim Insight

The true story of fashion needs to come out by which consumer purchases the product and the story of sustainability needs to be revealed behind the story of the product. This is the story of how Shasha is working for sustainability. We are confident that we are the greenest denim producer in this industry. Textile Today: Shasha’s marketing activities gives it extra strength in the market. How actually are you doing your marketing activities that are making your business more sustainable? Jamal Abdun Naser: Actually we do our homework first and then go to market. We always try to bring variation to our product by adding value and that gives us the privilege in the market.

Our present production capacity is 29 million yards per year. The customers with whom we are working with most of them are world’s renowned. In many cases, Shasha is the only nominated supplier for them in Bangladesh. Every month or every alternate month we come up with sorts of new concepts and go to the buyers. Recently we developed a fabric with a new concept in which sulfur does not contain any kind of hydrogen sulfide. As a result, there is no more bad smell and there is no hazardous material for end users and the environment. So, we named this as “Eco-black”. So we are developing many more things under the umbrella of sustainability and taking these to market. Textile Today: About 30 factories are there in the market producing denim products, what is your suggestion for the newcomers? Jamal Abdun Naser: It is true that many new entrepreneurs are interested in this denim sector. There is some rumor that China won’t continue its production in the future. This is really good for us but we have to take the opportunity. You can’t survive this industry by producing so-called products. So, we need to be innovative and need to develop our products quality as well. This is how we could be in a stronger position globally together.

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Denim Event

Bangladesh Denim Expo to explain production simplicity Bangladesh Denim Expo, an international exposition dedicated to promote Bangladesh’s denim and showcase Bangladesh’s strength and capacity in denim manufacturing.

Staff Correspondent The ninth edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo is going to be started on November 8 with a theme of “Simplicity” to showcase the innovation and technology used in denim sector and latest fashion trend in a very simple way. The two-day mega exposition will be held at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in between November 8 and 9, Dhaka to display the latest trend of denim products to the global brands and retailers as well as Bangladeshi manufacturers.

Figure: The ninth edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo is going to be started on November 8 with a theme of “Simplicity” to showcase the innovation and technology used in the denim sector. Courtesy: Bangladesh Denim Expo official Facebook page

A total of 62 exhibitors from all over the world are participating in the Expo, which is expected to attract the highest number of international visitors in an apparel event in Bangladesh. The theme of this edition ‘Simplicity’ is aimed at defining a much simpler, much easier definition to understand sustainability and ecology in denim. The expo will also focus on how to make things simpler to understand the demand of buyers, how to prepare for and negotiate them, and how the denim sector of Bangladesh can profit from more simplicity. The Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo Mostafiz Uddin said, “The underlying concept of the Bangladesh Denim

Expo is to fulfill the needs of the international denim community, offering the opportunity to make new contacts with potential buyers, discovering new products and to gain a comprehensive overview of the latest developments available from the Bangladesh denim industry.” “In the world market of denim, simplicity is now the ultimate sophistication. So, in this edition, the Bangladesh Denim Expo will try to give a much simpler message about sustainability and ecology in denim”, he added. In making the edition livelier, there will be three panel discussions on Simplicity from Designers to Consumers - the collaboration,

Simplicity & Standardization in the apparel industry, and Simplicity in Production - Innovation, Technology and Optimized Handling of Resources. In each session, denim experts from home and abroad will speak about the latest development, innovation, and technology already introduced in the denim sector to improve products quality. In addition, in the Trend Zone of the 9th edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo, the latest trend and design of denim fashion will be displayed to give a chance to the visitors to touch of experiencing the newness of innovation.

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D e n i m Tr e n d

Bangladesh denim exports to US jump 11.72% in Jan-Aug Bangladesh’s denim products export to United State market, the single largest export destination, has seen an 11.72% rise to $358.73 million in July-August period of the current year. Staff Correspondent According to the Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa) of the US, in January-August period of the year 2018, Bangladesh fetched $358.73 million, up by 11.72%, which was $321.11 million in the same period last year. In the year 2017, Bangladesh earned $507.92 million, which was 9.55% up compared to $463.61 million in 2016, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa) in the US. Apparel sector people and trade analysts have attributed the quality of Bangladesh denim products and competitive prices of goods for the

manufacturers have moved to introduce the latest technology for quality improvement, he added.

July-August 2018-19

July-August 2017-18

Rise (%)

$358.73 million

$321.11 million

11.72

rise on export earnings. “In the US markets, Bangladeshi denim products are doing better for its quality and competitive prices. In recent time, production cost in China and other country have gone up due to the wage hike. As a result, US manufacturers are moving to Bangladesh for sourcing denim products,” Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Senior Vice President Faruque Hassan said the Textile Today. On the other hand, Bangladesh has increased its production capacity both in fabrics manufacturing as well as in jeans manufacturing, said Hassan also Managing Director of Giant Group. On top of that, Bangladeshi

“In the coming years, Bangladesh will become the leader in the denim markets as the country has safe and compliance factories. The retailer’s platforms have accredited the industry and they are putting more orders,” Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) President Abdus Salam Murshedy said the Textile Today. While Bangladesh’s denim fabrics mills played the key role in increasing the global market share, said Salam Murshedy, a Former President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Salam also the Managing Director of Envoy Textiles, a LEED Platinum certified green factory in the world, has given the credit to government efforts to increase the

production capacity by offering proper policy support. “Considering the global present business status, Bangladesh is doing better compared to other competitor countries. This is because of our price competitiveness,” Former Finance Advisor to caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the Textile Today. But in remaining competitive in the global market Bangladesh has to move for products and market diversification. While it has to concentrate on producing valueadded products, said Islam. In addition, Bangladesh needs to focus on infrastructural development to reduce lead time and on time shipment of finished goods, said the economist. Bangladesh currently exports Blue Denim Trousers WG, Blue Denim Trousers MB, blue denim skirts, blue denim jackets, blue denim suit type coats MB, playsuits, and sunsuits and so on to the international market.

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G-star Raw to boost further sustainable denim sourcing from Bangladesh Shafiur Rahman, Regional Operations Manager, G-Star Raw With the philosophy- ‘Just the Product’- G-Star Raw started their glorious journey from 1989. They are continuously doing innovation and product development to challenge the ordinary denim designs and producing high-end denim products both for male and female. G-Star Raw started the business here in Bangladesh since 2005. Recently a Textile Today team has met Shafiur Rahman, Regional Operations Manager of G-Star Raw and discussed their business position in Bangladesh, possibilities and many other burning issues of the industry.

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Here is some of the conversation revealed for the Textile Today readers. Textile Today: G-Star Raw is one of the renowned denim producing brands in the world. Please share us the story of when G-Star Raw started the business in Bangladesh and what kind of products G-Star Raw is sourcing from Bangladesh? Shafiur Rahman: G-Star Raw is a private own company founded in 1989 in the Netherlands. In Bangladesh, G-Star Raw came in 2005 and started its business. From the very beginning, we are

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directly sourcing from vendors. We struggled much and it was not that easy to work directly with the factories because we were not familiar here to the local factories. But from the end of 2005, we started our journey in Bangladesh with a renowned group of companies namely Viyellatex Group. We believe in innovation and quality more than volume. Our first order was the t-shirt of 12 different styles and gradually we started to source polo shirt, sweater, shirt etc. From 2008, we started denim sourcing from Bangladesh though

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D e n i m Ta l k

it was not easy for us because we had to maintain some standards. Now our business size in Bangladesh is around 50 million dollars annually. Textile Today: As a prominent brand, how are G-Star Raw maintaining sustainability in Bangladesh textile sector? Shafiur Rahman: We are always aware of sustainability that is why we do lots of R&D to innovate sustainable production process, products and we are trying to use 100% sustainable materials. G-Star Raw has a goal to use 100% sustainable materials by 2020, but still, it is a big challenge for us and we are working on it. When it is denim, G-Star Raw is the most sustainable denim innovator in the world and it is around 98% sustainable. We use all sustainable dyes and chemicals and recently we are trying to use organic cotton sewing thread. The fair wage is another big part of sustainability. We provide training to our vendors and responsible parties. By sharing knowledge, sustainability could be spread among the peoples and we believe that. Textile Today: Bangladeshi manufacturers are more focused on production, do you think that branding is needed in manufacturers end? If yes, what should be the strategy? Shafiur Rahman: Thanks for such a realistic question. I think first of all manufacturers should give a holistic thinking about their own self and set the target market for whom they want to produce. If one is not ready to produce for a brand, then they should build themselves, I mean gradually they should grow. Also, there is price pressure already, workers wage, management cost and other costs are also increasing day by day. So, it is high time for the manufacturers to go for branding to grab more high-end brands and retailers. At the same time, it

would also help them to get more visibility from the brands which will be a sustainable business model. Textile Today: As you know, that lack of skilled manpower is an unavoidable acute problem for the Bangladesh textile industry, how the industry can overcome this problem?

billions of dollar taken by foreign expertise. So, top management of an industry should lead and arrange training to mitigate this situation. I feel our universities curriculum should also be updated since there is a huge gap between universities and the industry. So, a bridge is needed between the industry and education. At the same time, I think it is not essential to hire lots of trainer from outside. Every factory has their own trainers. If they are enough proactive, they can be able to train their own peoples.

We are always aware of sustainability that is why we do lots of R&D to innovate sustainable production process, products and we are trying to use 100% sustainable materials. G-Star Raw has a goal to use 100% sustainable materials by 2020, but still, it is a big challenge for us and we are working on it.

Textile Today: Recently RMG worker’s minimum wage has been set to 8,000 BDT. How do the brands and buyers see the whole scenario? Shafiur Rahman: Workers are the heart of the RMG industry, they should be treated well. As a brand, we are ready for the new wage board even if it is more, we are ready to pay.

When it is denim, G-Star Raw is the most sustainable denim innovator in the world and it is around 98% sustainable. We use all sustainable dyes and chemicals and recently we are trying to use organic cotton sewing thread.

Actually, everybody involved should have taken the responsibility. Brands, manufacturers, and workers as well, should facilitate each other for a sustainable business model.

Shafiur Rahman: Once the industry was more production oriented where there was available low-cost manpower, but now it is more professional, challenging and much more organized. Skilled manpower is now a situation demand and manufacturers cannot survive without a skilled workforce as they have to continuously adopt new technology, process, and many other things. In the industry, mid-level management pro-activeness is another big challenge. Every year

There should be a winwin situation both for the manufacturers and workers. Also, brands and buyers have to accept this wage board positively. Most importantly, it has to be confirmed that by this wage board workers living standard is really getting up to the mark. Textile Today: What is the business plan of G-Star Raw in Bangladesh? Shafiur Rahman: Basically, we have our own sourcing strategy. In the last 10 years, there were lots of ups and downs in our country. By the end of this year, there is the national election. We don’t know what will happen in the next three months. We as a brand, should not put everything in the same basket. We are already in 30% mark. Although we are trying to increase our denim business in Bangladesh.

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Natural Indigo

AMA Herbal brought sustainable Bio Indigo® dye with ‘Life Cycle Analysis’ for the denim manufacturers India’s AMA Herbal Laboratories Private Ltd has brought Bio Indigo® dye with ‘Life Cycle Analysis’ that will provide a sustainable solution of having lesser environmental impacts to the denim brands and manufacturers. Desk Report AMA Herbal Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. of India has made a breakthrough in the dyeing sector by presenting Bio Indigo® dye with ‘Life Cycle Analysis’ (LCA) for the first time. LCA is a scientific and analytic approach in calculating benefits that brands can get on a sustainable balance sheet by just switching to Bio Indigo® in denim production. Recently the textile world is extensively working to become 100% sustainable. Brands, as well as manufacturers, are also thinking how to be more sustainable in terms of raw materials, processes and whole supply chain. However, natural dyes is kind of unexplored area in sustainable approach due to unavailability of data for calculation of sustainable benefits. The innovation of AMA Herbal Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. has opened a new door for denim manufacturers to become sustainable. Bio Indigo® dye is obtained from leaves of plant Indigofera tinctoria, commonly known as indigo, which also exhibits medicinal properties. This dye comes in powder form and is certified on ‘GOTS Version-V’, also has ZDHC, ‘REACH’ to its credit. Its Fastness

Figure: Bio Indigo® dye from plant Indigofera tinctoria.

properties, the process of dyeing and method of use remains same or at par with synthetic indigo. Many big denim mills from Turkey, India, Pakistan, China, Italy, and Japan are already using Bio Indigo® on their rope dyeing machines. Bangladesh Denim manufacturers also showing a good response to this concept. Designers also love Bio Indigo® for its greener cast and the kind of cut effect that it gives. Denim and Indigo blue goes hand in hand. Initially, denim was

Comparison of LCIA inpacts for 1 kg of dyed cotton yarn Synthetic Indigo dye Bio Indigo® dye < 16% >

Acidification Potential (AP) [kg SO2 eq.]

< 2% >

Eutrophication Potential (EP) [kg Phospohateeq.]

< 9% >

Glpbal Warming Potential (HWP 100 years) [kg CO2 eq.] <20% >

Photochem. Ozone Creation Potential (POCP) [kg Ethene eq.]

< 8% >

Primary energy demand Potential (net cal. value) [MJ] < 23% >

Ecotoxicity [CTUe]

< 14% >

Human toxicity, non-canc. [CTUh]

< -0.4% >

Blue water consumption (AP) [kg] 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

made from Natural Indigo only, but now Indigo is also produced synthetically. Synthetic indigo (Indigotin, CAS no. 482-89-3) is produced through a chemical process and makes up for the majority of commercially produced indigo dye in the denim industry. Bio Indigo® dye being a sustainable product as well as compare with ‘Synthetic Indigo Dye’, AMA Herbal Laboratories have evaluated its environmental impacts using ‘Life Cycle Assessment’ approach as per ISO 14040/44 standard. The study helps to evaluate the various environmental impacts of the Bio Indigo® dye and how it stands compared with the ‘Synthetic Indigo Dye’. The study shows that dyeing with Bio Indigo® dye has 16% lesser acidification potential when the global warming potential is 9% lower, the primary energy demand was also 8% lower whereas the fresh water demand was

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Natural Indigo

0.4 % higher. The difference in the positive impacts was in the range of 0.4%-23% for various environmental factors defining sustainability of denim. Additionally, the study shows the comparison of environmental impacts for the production of 1 kg of both the dyes. Except for fresh water consumption, all the other environmental impacts are 10-100% lesser in case of Bio Indigo® Dye. The key findings of this study are summarized as follows: • The impact contribution of dye production in both cases of dyed cotton yarn production is not more than 8-9% across various impact categories. The major impact contribution comes from the cotton yarn and energy consumption in rope dying process. Use of Bio Indigo® dye leads to impact reduction, from the credits, it generates as a raw material as well as utilization of

dye wastewater in agriculture as a source of nitrogen. • The impacts from dyes are highly dependent on the quantity of the dye required. Better utilization of Bio Indigo® dye will lead to further impacts reduction. • This study provides Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) as regional averages (India) across the industry for dye manufacturing. • Decisions, as well as the choice of modeling approaches and assumptions, can influence the results of LCA. • Bio-diversity is not assessed in this study due to its limitations in the LCA methodology. • The decision should not be taken on toxicity parameters due to their high level of uncertainty. But when compared with Synthetic Indigo Dye, Bio Indigo® dye has lesser impacts for sure.

Bio Indigo® dye can provide a sustainable solution of having lesser environmental impacts to the denim brands and manufacturers. In general, natural dyes have certain advantages over synthetic dyes. Natural dyes are non-toxic, non-allergic and have reduced negative environmental impacts than synthetic dyes. AMA Herbal Laboratories will explore this area as the next step in their LCA journey. To become sustainable, fashion industry needs sustainable materials and Bio Indigo® dye thus promise in this endeavor.

Thai firm to develop textiles from plastic waste Desk Report A Thailand-based investment group Saha Pathana InterHolding Plc (SPI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PTT Global Chemical PLC (GC) for the development of textile products using plastic waste, a press release said. GC is to provide the technological know-how for transforming plastic waste into textile products. The company will focus on developing products that are less environmentally damaging while tackling the problem of plastic waste in the country, said the press release from GC. The move was prompted by the rise in demand from consumers for sustainability and environmental protection. Vichai Kulsomphob, SPI President and Executive Director, said that, “SPI recognizes the importance of investment in the textile industry,

Figure: Saha Pathana Inter-Holding Plc (SPI) and PTT Global Chemical PLC (GC) signed MoU aiming to bring Thai textile products up to international standards. Credit: www.pttgcgroup.com

and realizes that textile products created from plastic waste are an interesting business, as the global shift of sustainability and environmental protection continue to rise among the consumers.” Vichai further added that, “In this partnership, GC will bring expertise in the petrochemical business and manufacturing of plastic resin

by incorporating innovative and groundbreaking technology.” The combined strengths of the two organizations will ensure the promise of long-term business and simultaneously maximize the potential for Thai businesses, while also corresponding with the growing trend of green business across the world, said the release.

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 Denim Profile

The sustainability story of Prosperity Textile FT Research Team As a large-scale denim fabric manufacturer with 80 million yards capacity, Prosperity Textile is a dedicated to push for sustainable development in denim since founded in 1999, focusing on the eco material, green energy, and clean production. In 2017, 20% of their product sales were from sustainable collections. They have developed a wide range of ecofriendly products, from sustainable cotton to TENCEL™ Lyocell and from recycled polyester to water/ chemical-less dyeing, RE+INVENT denim collection. Prosperity Textile is adding recycled cotton as one of the latest highlights to promote the circular economic idea, which is also certified with Recycled Content Standard. On top of that, Prosperity Textile managed to keep the original blue color of the recycled stuff, then they weave this yarn in the weft which exhibits super-nice blue faded cast too. Which is truly vintage and easy-toidentify the recycled concept. And for the dyes, here comes the CARMINE BLUE, which is their signature free-of-hydrosulfite dyeing technology with prereduce liquid indigo.

total denim production output at Prosperity Textile in 2017 was increased by 20% to 2016, we have successfully managed to reduce the GHG emission per meter Figure 2: R95002, the second generation of the Itema by 5.4%, water and denim-dedicated rapier weaving machine. electricity consumption was also down by 11.5% and 7.9% respectively per meter.

In July 2016, Prosperity Textile successfully connected a 218 KW solar system on the rooftop of their warehouse to the grid, in 25 years, the average annual electricity generation is 190,000 kWh, reducing CO2 emissions of 198 tons a year. They are also expecting to install another 2 MW solar projects in coming years, to cover more energy use with clean energy. Prosperity Textile is also acting as a pioneer and choosing the first sustainable innovation in the weaving industry, the brand-new iSAVER™ equipped on R95002 denim by Itema, for its newlyopened Vietnam denim mill. This new technology is able to eliminate completely the left-hand weft waste, allowing to insert the weft yarns in the fabric without the need of additional yarns. iSAVER™ significantly reduces raw material waste, leading to tangible benefits in terms of machine’s efficiency, cost reduction, and energy saving, for the first time in the weaving industry, a sustainable approach when choosing the weaving equipment is now possible, 1000 Kg of cotton per machine per year means 3% of the total raw materials will be saved.

Figure 1: Prosperity Textile successfully installed 218 KW capacity solar system on the rooftop of their warehouse.

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As a result, while the

Prosperity Textile is a bluesign® system partner and committed to sustainable development. They

Figure 3: Andy Zhong, Marketing Director of Prosperity Textile (HK) Ltd.

are closely working with many third-party certification institutions to make sure the claims of production and products are true and accurate. They have been awarded the certifications of ISO 9001, 14001, Oeko-Tex® 100, OCS, RCS, Textile Security Label, etc. and are also the members of LYCRA EXCHANGE, BCI, COTTON LEADS and SAC. In April 2015, Prosperity received the awards of Top 5 in energy reduction of CLEAN by Design 2014 from Natural Resources Defence Council and World Bank. And in 2016, Prosperity Textile became the first Chinese denim mill joining the bluesign® system.