Today, the concept of sustainability has grown from mere ‘noise’ to real time implementation. In fact the movement towards sustainability is so strong that it is the most important trend emergingin 2009 which will impact2010 and beyond.
We take a deeper look at the trend in this issue; other important trends of the year will be highlighted in the next issue of Apparel Online.
Most climate scientists agree that between now and 2050 greenhouse gas emissions, commonly referred to as carbon emissions, must be reduced by 80% (year-on-year by almost 4% from 2010) if we are to avoid serious adverse effects of climate change. The seriousness can be gauged from the fact that the UK Parliament passed a Climate Change Act in November 2008, making this a legally binding target. In the meanwhile, as the enormity of the situation emerges with the activist keeping the concerns in the news, consumers’ worldwide clamour for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
No doubt, the concern is real, but efforts are yet to take concrete shape on a bigger platform though initiatives have been put in place by most along the supply chain. While retailers have accepted that the only way to grow is to invest in sustainable products and retail methods, manufacturing destination too gear up to comply. As the situation is getting deep rooted by the day, it is not far when sustainability will be an integral part of sourcing strategy with exporters who have invested in sustainable processes and products emerging as the preferred supplier.
For retailers the route to be sustainable is to source from a sustainable supply chain and implement sustainable practices in retailing, for the garment supply chain it is the textile mills and processing units which are the major offenders.
Initiatives by Retailers/Brands
In a recent survey (Annual World Retail Congress 2009) of 20,000 consumers in 10 countries 80% said they would reward brands that adopted sustainable practices. Companies are thus increasing their competitive edge by doing more with less resources, energy, pollution, waste and hazardous substances. Brands that have committed to work within a sustainable framework include Nike, Levis, Inditex, Migros, M&S, GAP, Timberland, Target, H&M, Macy’s, Tesco, to name a few and the list is increasing by the day. Issues like carbon credits, green buildings, wind energy, organic cotton and fair trade are now an integral part of any compliance initiative. Even a hyper store like Walmart for whom ‘price’ and ‘value’ are supreme concerns has declared sustainability to be the gateway towards better business practice and 3 goals have been established, i.e. to be supplied by 100% renewable energy, create zero waste and sell products that sustain resources and environment.
Brandix Lanka Limited, Marks & Spencer’s ‘green’ fashion supplier based in Sri Lanka, is a global benchmark on doing more with less by transforming its oldest 33-year-old apparel factory into a manufacturing eco-centre. Brandix has installed energy-efficient air-conditioning systems, ‘intelligent’ windows and a new building management system. It has replaced 5 km of tube lighting with special prismatic skylights and LED task lights at needle point, so no artificial light is required until18.00 hours. It re-uses treated waste water and 100% of its solid waste product. As a result it has reduced its carbon footprint by a staggering 80%, its overall energy consumption by 46%, its water consumption by 70% and completely eliminated its solid waste to landfill. For M&S this means that the carbon generated in producing a pair of chino’s has been reduced from 850 gms to 333 gms.
Retailers are also looking at options to optimize transportation to reduce carbon footprints. It has been suggested to consolidate the entire logistics chain and thereby reduce costs and carbon emissions. Maximising ‘container fill-rates’ (last year Kuhne & Nagel reported 6,974 empty cubic/sq m the equivalent of 370 containers), utilising multi-product containers, re-using rather than recycling hangers and using energy-efficient ships are some of the initiatives by companies to reduce costs and carbon footprint.
Involving the Consumer
Efforts are on by Green activist to impress upon all players in the supply chain that the carbon footprints along the complete chain must be reduced to have significant impact on the environment. This includes the consumer. Research by M&S and Otto Group, studying the lifecycle of cotton apparel clearly shows that nearly 80% of the garment industries energy and greenhouse gas responsibility is actually in the hands of the consumer in the washing, drying and pressing stage. Efforts are now on to educate the consumers and encourage them to wash and dry clothes at lower temperatures. M&S has developed clothes that can be washed at lower temperatures in an effort to engage consumers in the movement. Retailers need to be much more creative in telling their sustainability stories to consumers. However, only a few companies have effectively engaged consumers and one example comes from Patagonia, who’s Footprint Chronicles (TM) graphically allows the consumer to track the impact of five products from design to delivery thus giving them an informed choice.
No doubt, change in the sector to reduce environmental impact and promote social equity will occur if driven by consumer choice. And in response more and more consumers are buying second-hand clothing and textiles where possible, buying fewer more durable garments and textile products and when buying new products, choose those made with least energy and least toxic emissions, made by workers who were paid a credible living wage with reasonable employment rights and conditions. They are also leasing clothes that would otherwise not be worn to the end of their natural life, washing clothes less often, at lower temperatures and using eco-detergents, hang-drying them and avoiding ironing where possible, disposing of used clothing and textiles through recycling businesses who would return them for second-hand sale wherever possible, but otherwise extract and recycle the yarn or fibres.
Sustainability in Manufacturing
As retailers redefine their growth strategy based on sustainable concepts, manufacturing hubs like India begin to build in sustainable development. In October, the Supreme Court came down heavily on industries polluting water bodies, applying the ‘polluters pay’ principle against 150-odd dyeing units in Tirupur that had been discharging waste in Noyyal river. The court noted that though the industries have set up 17 common effluent treatment plants (CETPs), they were asked to pay up Rs. 55.60 crore for eco-restoration and pollution check work.
Work to become sustainable has begun with earnest. TASMA, an organization that represents textile spinning mills in Tamil Nadu is the pioneer in transporting the concept of Carbon Credit to India by bringing together a large number of textile companies to take advantage of windmills to generate energy, thereby cutting down on carbon dioxide [CO2] emission by these units, directly and indirectly. Some Apparel companies participating in the project are SP Apparels, Eastman Apparels, KPR Knits, Centwin Textiles, Gangotri Textiles and SCM. Other textile companies that are working to reduce carbon footprints are Malwa Industries, Trident, Nahar Industries, Vardhman and JCT.
Responding to issues of sustainability all major exporters in India have action plans in place. Gokaldas Exports is following a fair trade supply chain process and wherever possible, recycling and reuse of water is being practiced. At Loyal Textiles, energy requirements are being increasingly met by its own wind farms. The firewood requirements too are being increasingly met by captive firewood plantation. Water waste produced in the dye house is one of the lowest in the industry per kilo of fabric processed. This water is treated using bacteria and ozone to produce the least amount of solid waste.
Shahi Exports is very upfront on new requirements and sustainability is a priority with the management. Among the main thrust areas in sustainability are – Eco-friendly product to customer; Reduction in heat, including power saving, circulation of fresh air, better lighting and health environment for work force; Effective treatment and recycle of water, safe disposal of hazardous waste; and Controlling energy wastages. In tune with new requirements and very sensitive to ecological concerns of the industry, Orient Craft’s recently built factory site at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan is a ‘Green Building’ and the company has applied for certification for the same.
At Bombay Rayon, a new green policy is being put in place to explore how it can re-work its mills so that it can earn carbon credits. Like many other players in Tirupur, Best Corporation is a vertically integrated company from spinning to garmenting that is ecologically very aware and its complete energy requirement is met by captivated wind power resource of 30 mega watts. Other ecological efforts like water treatment and recycling are already built into the working philosophy. Other efforts by exporters include increasing use of servo motors, finishing presses with better pipes so that temperatures are maintained and the use of biomass to create electricity through captive plants. Rajshree Mills, Gupta Exim and Renuga Textiles are three companies that have already installed biogas plants and many others are on the floor.
These are but some individual examples of companies working for sustainability. As a community effort, Tirupur is the focus of user group initiatives that work to reduce energy consumptions. Through its various programmes, the initiative has been successful in implementing energy saving techniques in various processing and garmenting units. Under one of its initiatives a two week long survey was conducted to monitor the load patterns of 240 electric motors of five companies in Tirupur.
While 189 motors were properly loaded, 51 showed erratic load patterns. If it had been rectified, these companies could have saved around 1.2 kilowatt of power and converted into a clean savings of Rs.6 lakh per annum.