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The Textile Magazine
fEBRUARY 2012
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101
to the plate, highlighting a credible
connection between consumption
of their products and innovative ap-
proaches to the replenishment of re-
sources, making the world a better
place to live in.
Pressure on resources
As Steven A. Jesseph, CEO for
Worldwide Responsible Accredited
Production (WRAP), points out, by
2050 there will be 10 billion people
on the planet competing for lim-
ited water and both renewable and
non-renewable natural resources.
None of these people will be walk-
ing around naked. So the textile in-
dustry has to adapt. For centuries,
processing fabrics and materials
has been both labor intensive and
resource-heavy.
The apparel and footwear indus-
tries consume high quantities of
water, cotton, chemicals for dyeing
and finishing materials, tanning for
leather, and so on. In response to
increased consumer consciousness
and pressure on resources, includ-
ing the rise in the price of raw ma-
terials, brands within the industry
are responding with the launch of a
significant number of sustainability
initiatives.
Textile and footwear manufactur-
ers are facing the twin conundrum
of how to keep the consumer happy
with product quality while protect-
ing the environment. It is no mean
feat to not only not abandon hope
but to also flourish in the face
of adversity, and this is what the
textiles industry has done, as it
has explored sustainability al-
ternatives with gusto, looking at
green chemical management, in-
cluding toxic chemical replace-
ment, increased recycling of raw
materials and waste and greater
biodegradability of products and
chemicals used in the manufac-
turing process.
For example, sulfurs used with
the factory have been replaced
by sugar molecules by some
manufacturers, and heavy met-
als containing dyes have been
replaced by metal-free chromo-
phors.
The increased use of biode-
gradable enzymes has also fur-
thered green chemistry, with the
accompanying benefits of the use
of renewable resources, process-
ing at lower temperatures, nor-
mal atmospheric pressures, more
favorable and neutral pH and with
a greatly diminished input of water
and energy.
Branding industry
achievements
Research and development, how-
ever, is only one part of the sus-
tainability package. Branding is
also indispensable when it comes
to conveying the message about a
product’s sustainability. A product
must speak for itself regarding its
connection to the planet. The mate-
rials used and the resources spent on
creating the product should commu-
nicate a deeper resonance and mean-
ing when it comes to the quality of
the product and its relationship with
the environment.
Big names in the industry are
beginning to get the message, and
the measures taken are impressive.
A number of brands collect used
shoes and other waste products to
recycle. Timberland’s Earthkeeper
program disassembles used shoes
and recycles the materials based
on the concept that 50-70 per cent
of the material in the shoes can be
recycled. Nike recycles used shoes,
transforming them into a material
that’s used for sports surfaces, play-
grounds, and other new products.
Patagonia provides carbon footprint
information for all of its products
and recycles materials from used
garments.
Not to be outdone, Levi Strauss
& Co. provides the consumers of its
jeans with planet care washing guid-
ance, not least because the produc-
tion and the care that a consumer
takes of a pair of good jeans con-
sumes as much energy as powering
a personal computer for 556 hours.
industry update