Use of recycled fibers and fabrics and green initiatives are now being discussed to a great extent among garment exporters in Tiruppur, as overseas brands talk about sustainable product ranges.
Sulochana Cotton Spinning Mills in Tiruppur got into PET bottle recycling almost a decade ago. Used and thrown away PET bottles were collected and processed for fibre and this was spun into yarn.
Sulochana is getting ready to launch on a commercial scale ‘Polycycle’, a branded process to trace the entire supply chain, from picking the bottles to making of garments from the recycled fibre yarn, through block chain.
And, on the sustainability part, the company speaks of use of zero water for processing, complete use of renewable energy, etc.
Syndicate Impex, another garment manufacturing firm in Tiruppur, has launched Ecohike, a range of knitwear collections made entirely of fibre from recycled PET bottles and recycled textile fabrics.
Sulochana and Syndicate are not the only companies in Tiruppur that are investing in sustainability. As apparel brands in the European Union and the US announce plans for sustainable product ranges, suppliers are looking at ways to make their products meet the buyer demand.
Tiruppur as a cluster has invested in 1,600 MW of wind and solar energy, recycles waste water in processing units, and has zero liquid discharge systems. Hence, the cluster itself has sustainability advantage and individual companies are taking it forward through separate initiatives.
Reference- The Hindu, Fiber2Fashion, Tiruppur Exporters’ Association website