Carbon Footprint is Keyword of the Era

    We have moved into an age where businesses and industries are becoming more environmentally conscious. They are paying more attention to the sourcing of raw materials, production processes, and post-production waste treatment to ensure their products are eco-friendly, and now they also have to be aware of the carbon footprint which is a by-product of every human activity. 

    Carbon footprint refers to the amount of greenhouse gases emitted throughout a product’s life cycle from the acquisition of raw materials, production process, assembling process, distribution, applications, and waste management after expiration. This include the gases emitted from delivery and transportation of the products, and they are calculated in terms of grams, kilograms or tons of carbon dioxide equivalence (the unit of greenhouse gases).

    Therefore, a carbon footprint label has been invented to put on products or items to show consumers how much greenhouse gas emissions are produced throughout the life cycle of those products. It encourages entrepreneurs to change production technology to be more environmentally friendly. Carbon footprint labels also help increase competitiveness in the global market because many countries have now begun to endorse the reduction of carbon footprint, such as England, France, Switzerland, Canada, Japan and Korea, among others. Also, there have been demands for products imported from other countries to be labelled with carbon footprint descriptions.

    Nowadays, many fashion brands have adapted to become more sustainable in every aspect of their operations. For example, a luxury fashion brand from Italy Prada, has announced the elimination of animal fur in their products and has launched a new material for the Re-Nylon collection which is made from ocean plastic waste and fishing nets. The brand aims to cancel the use of pure nylon and turn to recycled plastics as materials in other product lines.

    Another interesting example is Fast Retailing Company Limited, the producer of many apparel brands such as UNIQLO, GU, Theory, J Brand, and many others, which has developed their industry to become more environmentally conscious with an aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The company has been using technologies that reduce the use of water because the apparel industry uses a lot of water resources. To illustrate, one shirt uses approximately 2,700 liters of water, while one pair of jeans uses up to 10,000 liters of water. Their new jeans production technology is claimed to reduce water use by up to 99%. In addition, the laser technology has been used to make patterns on the jeans instead of traditional sandpaper.

    Furthermore, there is a trendsetter in the field of apparel sustainability which is popular worldwide such as Freitag. The company has been turning used truck covers made of canvas and used seat belt straps into cool accessories which greatly reduces waste and facilitates the process of raw material acquisition for many years.

    Textile and garment industry needs to become more environmentally friendly and makes conscious effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as much and as quickly as possible because it ranks among the top pollution creators. The industry emits up to 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, and this figure far exceed the amount emitted by international flights and shipping combined.

    Accordingly, innovations used in the Textile Recycling production process can be instrumental in helping to reduce carbon footprint. This can be initiated through using environmentally friendly materials for clothing, or re-use and recycle waste from textiles such as zippers or buttons and turn them into recycled fibers for textile production.   of foreign matter and molding to be spun into recycled fibers for the production. This can help reduce the water use by up to 95% and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 45% per year, or the equivalent of planting 50,000 trees.

    What’s more, the use of automation systems in place of manual labors can improve the management process and lower carbon dioxide emissions. This intelligent system can increase efficiency in resource management and conduct comprehensive inspections, so it can greatly reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions, resulting in higher standard of productivity and environmental friendliness.

    Textile and garment entrepreneurs interested in sustainable technologies and innovations in their manufacturing production are invited to experience the industry-specific technological offers in person at GFT 2024, THE 24TH edition of ASEAN's Most Comprehensive Exhibition for Garment and Textile Manufacturing Industry during 26-29 June 2024. Come check out all the latest industry updates and meet with the right partners to raise the bar of your business!