With global awareness of environmentally-friendly products after the pandemic, there has been a jump in sustainable denim labels that are attempting to reduce the carbon footprint that the denim manufacturing industry entails.
Keeping in mind that denim accounts for over 5% of landfill waste and around 2,900 liters of water and a huge volume of harsh chemicals and energy is required to manufacture just a single pair of jeans, the leaders of the global apparel supply chain are now working cohesively towards sustainability and recycling.
Restricted water and chemical use in manufacture
The global fashion industry is accountable for almost 10% of global GHG emissions, of which upstream production is responsible for 71% of fashion’s total GHG emissions with around 23% from usage, and end-of-use and brand operations account for around 6%, which points out to a great need for collective change.
Brands are now focusing on doing research and development on denim recycling, encouraging customers to exchange their old jeans for new and manufacturing more compostable jeans without using polyester threads and metal trims made of metal. Retail brands and designers are bending over backwards to incorporate everything from dead-stock fabrics to coffee beans and use less water and energy while the government of different countries are also regulating waste and environmental damage.
However, as it is said truly sustainable denim brand is not possible and it is greenwashing, as the denim industry can never be totally environmentally friendly as there will always be some chemicals involved to make the fabric what it is. With denim being a wardrobe staple, most top brands are now focusing on a circular economy for denim with recycling being the main focus.
Brands focus on sustainability issues differently
Some retailers like H&M are raising customer awareness through their take-back and recycling programs, where old is exchanged for new or given to charity. Other brands are moving from traditional manufacturing of the flat, linear model where the end-product is sold and eventually discarded.
Austria-based Lenzing Group has for many years manufactured wood-based viscose fibers, modal fibers, lyocell fibers and filament yarn, which are used in the textile industry. Currently the company is using Tencel modal fiber with Indigo technology which directly inserts indigo pigment during the fiber production process, so almost eliminating all the water and electricity use as well as 80% of chemicals. This process releases very little wastewater as compared to the conventional powder indigo dyeing technique.
Jeanologia, a Spanish manufacturer of manufacturing equipment for the textile sector, has introduced the G2 Dynamic which uses ozone technology for continuous fabric finishing which actually turns the surrounding air into ozone and then uses it to create color degradation effects.
Archroma, a global and diversified provider of specialty chemicals serving the branded and performance textiles, has now developed a product portfolio of liquid dyes in denim manufacture such as Denisol Indigo 30 Li, a cradle-to-cradle certified dye that generates approximately 50% less wastewater, is aniline-free, and uses fewer operational resources.
New-age customers need to know about the jeans they wear
With the new-age customers who focus on wellness and healthy lifestyle, the need to know about the environmental impact associated with the manufacturing process of their everyday denim wear is at an all-time high. With the global denim market having seen persistent growth even in the pandemic times and expected to reach $107 billion by 2023, most retail brands are jumping into this environmentally friendly bandwagon make use of the favorable situation while it lasts.
