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| Issue date:26/05/2010 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - May 2010 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
| by May Chan |
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| With climate change, globalisation and ever increasingly competitive market, the need for textile industry to go eco-friendly has finally translated from thoughts into actions – or so it seems at least with the industry people who shared their experiences and insights into the Asian textile scene at the Planet Textiles conference held in Hong Kong. |
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| KiK, a large clothing discounter in Germany, believes carbon emissions should be considered in its sourcing activity |
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At the conference, Petra Katzenberger, Head of CSR at KiK, a large clothing discounter in Germany, shared some findings of the latest carbon footprint study launched by her company, which is part of the holistic management system implemented in KiK in year 2010 in accordance with ISO14001. Founded in 1994, KiK has more than 5,000 stores across Europe, sourcing tens of millions of boxes of textile and non-food products from its global partners every year, including China, India, Bangladesh, and Latin America.
The concept of carbon footprint, Katzenberger said, was to evaluate the carbon along supply chain of the product sourced. For example, one of the projects was to evaluate the overall carbon emission caused by a pair of KiK jeans traveling from South China to KiK’s headquarter at Bönen, Germany.
In year 2009 alone, KiK sourced a million denim pieces jeans in the Pearl River Delta region (South China), totaling 637 tons. The carbon foot print exercise the carbon emitted throughout the supply chain, from raw materials, manufacturing, to transportation. That means calculating the carbon emission per kg of yard produced, per pair of jeans transported, and further down to analyzing which transport mode – air, shipping or mixed use or both – caused more carbon emission. It was found that for one pair of jeans to travel from a factory in Shenzhen to Bönen, the carbon emission will be 4.4 kg by air, and 2.5 kg by the mixed use of both shipping and air.
Despite the findings, Ms Katzenberger said concrete sourcing policies were yet to be confirmed. "Optimisation is the trend to go," she commented on the trend to optimise cost-effectiveness in production and transport, both in terms of money and the energy and resources involved.
Cost-neutral ethical product
Simon Jameson Weston, Marketing Director of the Hong Kong-based Fountain Set Holdings Ltd, which is one of the largest textile manufacturing companies in the world, offered examples of how Asian manufacturers are gearing up to steel their business towards quality and eco-friendly production.
"One of the things our business believes is that good products and good practices for many industries should not be costing you any more money. Good being ethical, and of good quality. They should not be more expensive." Mr Weston continued: "We must make sustainable products, good eco responsible products in a cost-neural way."
In fact, Mr Weston shared that, compared with the West, a lot more Asian manufacturers are cleverly recycling, reusing, and repurposing of the waste through a clever waste control system that is specific in dye, color, and materials. The process starts with waste collection from the cutting room – the manufacturer, like Fountain Set, will start collecting waste from cutting room, and repurpose it by making it into yarn, nonwoven products, or something else. The success in regenerating waste means a lot of saving, Mr Weston said, as 60-70% of the cost of fabrics is from the yarn.
"You can make normal eco-products for your customers from this route, using wastes from whole bunch of different people," said Mr Weston. "Our aim is, by 2012, 40% of the yarn of our business is to be repurposed yarn." His company, Fountain Set, has already managed to produce good quality baby wipes, and lady's tops from the repurposed waste.
"It's not just about the push of the West saying you must comply, you must do this. There are a lot of manufacturing happenings (in Asia)," he said, referring to the self-initiated efforts made by Fountain Set and other Asian manufacturers towards sustained development in recent years.
Patagonia, an American clothing company offering outdoor clothing and gear, also shared its CSR policies at the Hong Kong conference. Its Director of CSR, Cara Chacon, reiterated the company's heritage and policy in promoting sustainability and corporate social responsibility practice in raw materials sourcing and manufacturing process.
Patagonia is also a forerunner in sustained development of the apparel industry, and a brand member of the bluesign standard, a system that covers environmental aspects and product safety throughout the supply chain. The system is not compulsory and a number of Asian textile and apparel manufacturers have joined this green coalition.
Trust from retailers is helpful
Phil Patterson, chairman of UK pressure group the RITE Group, mentioned a lack of real, sincere engagement of retailers with supply base as being the major setback in sustainable development in the textile industry. He also said that the price-driven approach of retailers in sourcing management, which sidelined technical compliance teams in closing sourcing deals.
There is also a downward price pressure for suppliers to supply "more for less", and the culture of delayed payment in the industry. To put it simply, Mr Patterson said, when prices got pushed down, supply base also got pushed underground because good practices would cost money, and only a few supply base could afford to be good. On the other hand, the late payment culture deterred investment because garment makers and dyers could not get the cash flow to introduce improvement and innovations. He believes it is important to have retailers and supply base moving to partnership.
Supply chain needs transparency and standard
Before this conference, retailers and manufacturers have been cooperating in building up a more transparent supply chain of textiles and apparel.
"The supply chain has to be more transparent from raw materials to finished products." Jeff Nash, Director for Materials Development & Testing at The North Face, continued: We'll need to know exactly where the raw materials come from, all the processes they go through and the manufacturing processes. It is about a traceable audit from the material (e.g. chips from polymers or farming in the case of natural fibers) all the way through the finished product." He made the remark at the sideline when attending the first bluesign conference last year in Switzerland.
Jill Dumain, Director Environmental Analysis of Patagonia said: "Now I think we're moving to a stage to integrate the environmental piece into the supply chain and bring into the components of quality, cost, performance and environmental (considerations) in a seamless way to produce a high-quality product."
The bluesign standard helps adress environment, health and safety concerns in the textile industry |
To create a more transparent supply chain and achieve a greener practice, some Asian manufacturers sought technical expertise from independent standard providers, and bluesign technologies is one of them.
This standard gives a clearer picture for players in the supply chain to better understand the implication of their action, ranging from the use and processing of raw materials to the finished product, involving suppliers of yarns, dyes and additives, textile manufacturers, retailer and brand companies, as well as consumers.
Sales Manager of Everest Textile, Philip Chung, described bluesign standard as a management system. "We call it a system (of management) because it helps us optimise the production operations. In doing so, we motivated our workers and employees to change their mindset, which was the most difficult but crucial task in the implementation," he said. The Taiwanese producer took the advice of bluesign consultants and started to monitor every step of its manufacturing activities and find out ways for more improvement. Everest Textile was able to save costs substantially in energy and resource uses, Mr Chung said.
Since its creation in 2000, the bluesign standard over 100 textile and apparel manufacturers in the world and a number of manufacturers in Asia have conducted a screening and later signed a system partner agreement to certify their products. Retailers and brands in the world, e.g. Patagonia, The North Face, REI and more, have put their trust in the standard and help advocate the importance of environment, health and safety in the supply chain. The standard is also supported by chemical companies in the world such as Huntsman, Clariant, DyStar, CHT, Daikin and more, according to bluesign technologies. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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