Creating a more sustainable textile industry with supply chain partners

July 7,2022

Collaboration is the key to success for any brand, and the textile industry is no different. The TENCEL™ brand is proud to have worked with so many talented and inspiring supply chain partners, who share a common vision of enhancing sustainability within the industry. TENCEL™ has been working closely with its supply chain partners over the last 30 years to cultivate a better future for the planet.

Kobayashi Planning Co. Ltd, a Japanese textile manufacturer, has been working with the TENCEL™ brand since the very beginning, and was part of the original journey to create the first ever fabric made of TENCEL™ branded fibers. “During the first era of TENCEL™ fibers in the Japan market, the unique texture was greatly appreciated and initally got more attention from the market than its sustainability aspect. This uniqueness is still valued by customers, and is one of the reasons why the material is loved forever,” said Nobuhiko Kobayashi, CEO at Kobayashi Planning Co. Ltd.

TENCEL™’s supply chain partners span across the globe, and each partner plays an important part in the journey from fiber to launching the final product.

In Europe, Turkish denim manufacturer, Orta, has been using TENCEL™ fibers in its product range since 2012. “At Orta, we are committed to creating a better ecosystem by sharing resources, knowledge and information. TENCEL™ has been a great partner for us on this journey and we value TENCEL™’s efforts in closing the loop, and having full transparency and traceability, as well as good quality, natural-based high performance products with credible sources and circular solutions. That’s why we only have TENCEL™ as our solutions partner,” said Sedef Uncu Aki, Director at Orta.

The TENCEL™ brand is proud to collaborate with leading value chain partners across the textile industry, which harbour the same sustainability goals as TENCEL™. In India, the Pallavaa Group, a spinning mill with a mission to promote sustainable yarns and fabrics, has been a partner of TENCEL™ for over 20 years. “At Pallavaa Group, we take sustainability very seriously. We want to promote sustainable products to our customers and meet our sustainability goals, and that is how we first aligned with the TENCEL™ brand, ” said Durai Palanisamy, Executive Director at Pallavaa Group.

The TENCEL™ brand is constantly innovating and upgrading its offerings, in order to meet the evolving partner and consumer demand. One of the most pioneering inventions over its history is the innovative REFIBRA™ technology, which involves upcycling cotton scraps from garment production and transforming them into cotton pulp. A substantial proportion of this is added to wood pulp, and the combined raw material is transformed to produce new virgin TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers which are then utilized by TENCEL™ brand’s supply chain partners to create fabrics.

“We have been conducting Life Cycle Analysis studies on our products to assess their environmental impact. We realized that using recycled content makes a significant difference compared to using virgin resources in the products. In that sense, REFIBRA™ technology is a great solution for low impact in fabrics. It has excellent potential to solve the textile waste problem within a closed loop production,” said Aki.

“REFIBRA™ is one of the most important innovative technology that the TENCEL™ brand has created so far. Now, we are able to recycle up to 30% of the post-consumer cotton waste, and I hope that this amount can continue to grow in time,” added Palanisamy.

Over the next 30 years and beyond, the TENCEL™ brand will create more innovative textile fiber solutions, so that together with its industry partners, it can foster a more sustainable future

Reprint from: https://www.tencel.com/b2b/news-and-events/creating-a-more-sustainable-textile-industry-with-supply-chain-partners