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Oct 29, 2023

Get Out of Your Silo and Collaborate, Kingpins Denim Experts Say

Collaboration is essential to innovation and the global denim supply chain is taking this message to heart.

“This particular segment of the textile industry really works closely on design and innovation, but it’s equally important from a sustainability standpoint,” said Scott Echols, chief impact officer of the ZDHC Foundation.

At Kingpins New York, Echols led a discission with executives from fiber, dyeing, cutting, sewing and recycling companies to demonstrate how every part of the denim value chain can work together to drive circularity and more responsible manufacturing.

Fostering collaboration is part of ZDHC’s role in the supply chain, Echols said. ZDHC is working to align not only the chemical requirements in terms of sustainability and safer chemicals, but also align the brands on their wastewater and emission requirements and reduce duplication to make it easier for suppliers. “There’s a lot of fear of the unknown,” he said regarding new technologies and policies aimed to reduce fashion’s environmental impact.

Innovation requires a reset in how brands approach their R&D, said Alice Tonello, R&D and marketing director of the Italian wash and finishing technology company Tonello, via video. “One of the main challenges for new technology is the way people think. We need to change our mindset,” she said. “Sometimes there is a need to break away from what has always been done and start from scratch.”

One success story that brings together these qualities is Candiani Custom, the ITMA award-winning micro factory in Milan. The boutique, which has Tonello equipment, allows consumers to make bespoke jeans that are cut, packaged, treated and washed on site by skilled workers. The immersive experience promotes quality, sustainability and local manufacturing while reducing overproduction.

Tonello said the factory is an example of how the entire supply chain has collaborated to create an ethical and sustainable project.

“The innovator space within circularity is really taking off right now,” said Tricia Carey, chief commercial officer for Renewcell, adding that in the fiber space there are companies built on innovation and others that may move slower due to their size in the market.

For Renewcell, Carey said the focus is on scaling up, staying focused and making its dissolving pulp, Circulose, work as a plug-and-play solution for existing manmade cellulosic fiber production. This, she added, requires Renewcell to look at production systems and how they work, and develop ways to fit into them.

“We’re not going to go out and build all new equipment, so how can we work with what already exists,” she said.

Renewcell is finding likeminded partners. The company recently named 47 “early adopters” in 12 countries that will have first access to production-ready volumes of the circular raw material.

The denim industry’s holistic approach to recent innovations is what excites Jennifer Thompson, the CEO and co-founder of COLOURizd.

Innovating in your own silo has impact, but to have “real impact” it needs to go through the entire supply chain, she said. COLOURizd works with its partners to see how it can enhance what they’re doing. “It’s not just about what we do,” she said.

For example, COLOURizd dyes yarn quickly and fortifies yarns in the process—a benefit for recycled yarns which tend to have weaker tensile strength. The company can also create a texture within its yarns that mimics a washed down effect with less water.

“I can partner with [a company] like Tonello to make sure that the laser process works really well on our products,” Thompson said. “I think that’s where our future is, getting out of our own lanes, and actually partnering across the supply chain and working to make each other better.”

In terms of sustainability, Scott Gress, Siddiqsons Ltd. president, North American sales, said the role of a denim manufacturer is to be open to every opportunity that comes along.

It requires time, research and the effort to form trusted partnerships. It also requires a deep understanding of “what your inputs are, and what your input costs are, and how much of each thing you’re using, and how much of each thing you’re throwing away at the end of the process,” he said.

“You can’t save what you don’t measure,” he added.

Companies also need to be supported by a company that has a budget and a care for sustainability to make innovation commercial and the patience to see results, Gress said.

“There’s experimentation, and it doesn’t always work out the way you hoped,” he said. “And maybe you spent some money, and you didn’t get any return on that one, but the next one you will. So, it takes a combination of those things.”

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