When it’s deliver-or-die, supply chains become the lifeblood of a company. To that end, the fashion industry has embraced technology to navigate today’s hyper-complicated supply chain, with myriad solutions shaping the first, middle and last mile. Call it Sourcing 2.0.
XDD Textile, a vertically integrated fabric producer based in Hong Kong, is making strides in circularity.
The company launched a closed-loop system using the XDD Sewage Recycle Process. Through the system, the company collects garment waste and stock from local factories, as well as its own cut waste. It then dissolves and regenerates the fiber and re-spins the yarn before moving to the fabric production process. Overall, the system regenerates 10 to 15 percent of all waste collected. XDD is certified in both the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) and Carbon-Zero programs.
Many supply chain partners are looking to closed-loop systems keep products in use for longer while lessening their environmental impact. In 2020, Turkish denim mill Isko signed a licensing agreement for the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel’s (HKRITA) award-winning Green Machine, a technology that fully separates and recycles cotton and polyester blends at scale. The closed-loop process uses only water, heat and less than 5 percent biodegradable green chemicals.
A year later, it joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign project, which established a set of durability and recyclability standards such as keeping a minimum of 98 percent cellulose fibers by weight, including easy-to-disassemble materials and phasing out metal rivets. It also partnered with Swedish research and development company MoRe Research, a part of Rise Research Institutes of Sweden, to continuously develop new, sustainable technologies that look to waste and cellulose-based materials to close fashion’s production loop.
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Similarly, Hong Kong-based denim manufacturer Crystal Denim debuted Second Life fabric, a recycled and circular denim fabric innovation that recycles pre-consumer cut waste from industry peers into new fabric for a closed-loop denim process. The fabric is certified with Recycled Claim Standard (RCS), and includes full traceability so brands know exactly where their denim is coming from. The Wash Minus- range also uses water-efficient washing processes that recycle more than 80 percent of the water used.
In line with these efforts, XDD Textile is also focused on boosting its capacity with a new spinning mill set to open in 2024. Located beside its denim mill in Vietnam, the factory will work with Lenzing materials including Tencel Lyocell, Ecovero, Modal and Tencel Refibra. In the future, it aims to incorporate Lycra T400.
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