Early discussions on ‘sustainable fashion’ focused largely solely on pollution, with concerns about pressure on land and water. Later on, climate change emerged as a determinant. However, over the last few years, fast fashion and its effect on climate change have gained heavy traction across industry forums.
Eastman Exports, India’s one of the largest knitwear exporters, has always been sensitive to these issues and has undertaken numerous initiatives in this regard. Its key focus areas include sourcing sustainable raw materials, managing water, waste, wastewater and chemicals, reducing energy consumption, greenhouse gases and waste and involving in social causes.
The Tamil Nadu-based company began evaluating its environment performance in 1999 with ISO 14001 certification. Ever since then, the company under the leadership of founder N Chandran, has undertaken a slew of measures to minimise its carbon footprint, earning it the recognition of a responsible manufacturer. The management’s quest for sustainability led the company to become a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition in 2017 and it also launched the Higg FEM assessment.
In 2018, Eastman Exports became a contributor to Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC). As part of its efforts towards climate change, the group committed itself to science-based targets (SBTi) in 2019. This year (2024) started on a good note as SBTi approved its near-term target to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by 45% by FY 2030 from the base year FY 2020. The group has also committed to reducing absolute GHG scope 3 emissions by 25% within the same timeframe. The target includes biogenic land-related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstock.
The group is a pioneer in adopting continuously evolving sustainability development tools: the group has been disclosing its water performance through Clearstream from 2020 and confirming its chemical ZDHC compliance levels through InCheck from 2021. In its effort to tackling waste management difficulties and closing the loop in the garment manufacturing process, Eastman Exports joined ‘Reverse Resources’ last year. Earlier this year, the platform conferred the group with a certificate for effective textile waste management in recognition of:
o Effective segregation of textile cutting waste
o Digital record keeping of textile waste inventory and logistics
o Facilitating traceability and tracking of textile waste
o Contributing to circularity and sustainability in textile industry
Eastman Exports runs on the guiding principle of ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’, and has several feathers to its hat: Setting a new industry benchmark in wastewater recycling by switching to ZLD in 2010, winning the Decathlon Energy Challenge in 2019, meeting 100% ZDHC MRSL compliance of chemicals, and achieving Zero Coal milestone in 2023.
Through its continuous R&D, Eastman Exports recycles more than 70% of water in all its factories, and recycles and reuses more than 90% water in dyeing. Currently, 3-4 million litres of wastewater is being recycled every day and less than 10% of freshwater is withdrawn from natural resources. Further, the salt generated in the production process is reused using the most sophisticated technologies. The group is steadfastly heading towards being water positive.
As for power consumption, 80% of its energy requirement for Tier 1 garmenting factory is sourced from renewable sources such as solar and wind, while 60 to 70% of its energy for Tier 2 dyeing factory and 30% energy for Tier 3 spinning unit comes from power purchase agreements.
The group’s sustainability plans in pipeline include moving further towards renewable energy, sourcing low emission products and services, switching to Zero ODP refrigerants, and improving rain water harvesting facilities among others. It is also actively carrying out R&D trials related to salt-free dyeing, ATFD salt recovery and reuse and bioscouring. The group’s ability to recognise and quickly embrace cutting-edge technology and automations sets it apart from others.
Eastman Exports is also certified by the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Fairtrade, and Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) for cotton. These certifications require the organization to meet particular requirements and undergo thorough audits to assure compliance. For example, BCI focuses on sustainable cotton production, Fairtrade on fair trading procedures and improved farmer livelihoods, and GOTS on organic textile certification. These certifications promote transparency across the supply chain by tracking and confirming the origin and manufacturing procedures of the materials utilised.
