Ecofriendly denim manufactured by Clariant Advanced Denim processes.
SINGAPORE: Brands are becoming eco-conscious which follows the recent Greenpeace ‘Dirty Laundry’ report - investigating hazardous chemical discharges into water supplies. In response to this challenge, a leading group of companies and major retailers rapidly made pledges to work together over specified time periods with the so-called ‘Joint roadmap Toward Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals’ issued in November 2011.
The production of denim has involved huge quantities of water, with all the attendant problems of cleaning or disposing of the significant amount of wastewater. At the forthcoming Denim by Premiere Vision in Paris, Clariant will showcase the essential new products and technologies with which brands can differentiate their jeans.
“Wastewater in denim mills is largely generated by the washing off and rinsing processes. Usually, in dyeing with indigo, a tremendous amount of water is used in washing off. With the first Clariant Advanced Denim process though - the Denim-Ox - water consumption for washing off is significantly reduced, so the wastewater generated is much less than in conventional process. The Pad/Sizing-Ox process does not consume any water for rinsing,” explained Miguel Sanchez, Head, Global Product Line Special Dyes (Textile Chemicals), Clariant.
In total, with the Advanced Denim processes, water consumption can be reduced by as much as 92 per cent, while 63 per cent of the usual cotton waste is avoided and around 30 per cent can be saved in energy costs. Added to this, the latest fashion trends are seeing denim explode into a rainbow of earth tones. The process is simple to control, efficient and suitable for small batches. Clariant’s dyes solutions allow better reproducibility of tones, shades – without making changes to existing production lines. Clariant is also launching the Clariant Denim Book, which offers a complete overview of denim manufacturing - from cotton to fashion.
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