Increased\nawareness about the impact of textile and garment production on the environment\nhas seen greater scrutiny being placed on the textile production process from\nthe selection of fibers down to the dyeing and finishing process.\nTraditionally, the fabric dyeing process uses large volumes of water and\nproduces significant amounts of wastewater which contain harmful chemicals that\nif not handled correctly, find their way into rivers and waterways thus harming\nthe natural ecosystem. The concern over the harmful effects of irresponsible\nfabric dyeing practices has led to a number of forced shutdowns by\nenvironmental inspectors across China & in Bandung, Indonesia, forcing\ntextile sourcing agents and buyers to examine the practices in place in their\ntextile production chain. Below are some of key characteristics to look for\nwhen selecting a fabric dyeing mill as well as choices that can greatly enhance\nthe environmental sustainability of your textile production footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wastewater\ntreatment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wastewater\nis an inevitable biproduct of the textile production cycle given its\nrequirement for textile processing, dyeing and printing with the dyeing process\naccounting for 15-20% of the total wastewater flow. The World Bank estimates\nthat 17-20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and\nfinishing treatments given to fabrics while the resulting wastewater contains\n72 harmful chemicals on average, 30 of which cannot be removed. The past decade\nhas seen marked improvements in how textile and dyeing mills handle their\nwastewater and the chemical effluents from the dyeing process which can include\nphysical, chemical and biological methods. Some of the options available\ninclude adsorption, reverse osmosis, nanotechnology, ultrafiltration, ozonation\nand crystallisation among various others which use different approaches to\nremoving toxic substances from the water and purifying it, which enables it to\nbe reused. Given the water intensive nature of textile dyeing, production\nprocesses that employ technologies to minimize the level of water consumption\nas well as recycle water should therefore be a priority when selecting a\ntextile manufacturer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OEKO-TEX\u00ae\nCertified<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Always\nlook for an OEKO-TEX\u00ae certified textile manufacture or dyeing mill; OEKO-TEX\u00ae is<\/strong> a worldwide certification system for environmentally\nfriendly and socially responsible production facilities in the textile and\nclothing industry. The STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX\u00ae is a worldwide\nconsistent, independent testing and certification system for raw,\nsemi-finished, and finished textile products at all processing levels, as well\nas accessory materials used. To obtain OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification,\ntextiles needs to be free from more than 100 substances known to be harmful to\nhuman health. In addition to the certification, check\nthe use of any substances of very high concern<\/a> (SVHC) listed in REACH, the\nsubstances listed in the Restricted Substance List (RSL) of the American\nApparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), and the limited or restricted\nchemicals and the limit values listed in Oeko-Tex Standard 100. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By knowing\nthe composition of the dyestuffs being used by the textile manufacturer or dyeing\nmill, you can better understand the quality of the chemicals being employed\nsuch as the use of pigments as opposed to synthetic dyes and better assess not\nonly their quality, but also their environmental impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Digital\nPrinting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Digital\nprinting is the direct printing of colours and patterns onto fabric using\ndesign software, large-format printers, and specialty inks made with pigments\nor dyes. Digital printing is an alternative to standard screen printing, which\nuses a constrained colour palette and requires separate stencils as well as\nproduction steps for each colour that is being used. Digital printing is much\nfaster than screen printing and is becoming increasingly popular for creating\ntextiles and garments with patterns that are required by the high street fast\nfashion industry as small runs can be completed in a short space of time.\nFurthermore, digital printing on polyester uses a two-step dye sublimation\nprocess that is almost waterless. The pattern is first printed on transfer\npaper; heat then turns the colour into a cloud of gas, which bonds with the\nsoftened polyester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fabric\nChoice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Environmental\nsustainability in the textile and apparel supply chain has seen a number of\ninnovations in textile composition including fabrics from natural and recycled\nfibres such as Repreve and Tencel in addition to the increased cultivation of\norganic cotton which uses less water. Fabric choice also plays a decisive role\nin the dyeing process as different fabric types take up dye more easily and\ntherefore require fewer washes to achieve colour fastness thus producing less wastewater.\nCotton for example only has a dye fixation rate of 75% due to the negative\ncharge of the fabric surface meaning that is requires several water baths\nincluding at least one at a high temperature to achieve colour fixation.\nProducing 1kg of dyed cotton uses 200 litres of water. This contrasts with\npolyester which has a 99% dye fixation rate, wool with 85% and viscose with a\nrate of 85-90% therefore requiring lower temperatures and water volumes to\nachieve the desired result. Fabric blends that maintain the specifications in\nterms of fit, drape and performance of your textile specifications are\ntherefore the ideal route to ensuring colour accuracy. quality and fastness\nwhile also reducing the amount of water and energy required for the end\nproduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Increased awareness about the impact of textile and garment production on the environment has seen greater scrutiny being placed on the textile production process from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13652"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13654,"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13652\/revisions\/13654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shinta.co.id\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}