Green Power

Eager to reduce paper consumption and carbon emissions, Samantha Docherty asks why corporate companies are reluctant to give their uniforms an eco overhaul.

Despite the rag trade's increasing interest in carbon neutral initiatives, high costs and production logistics are just two of the factors preventing the corporate wear sector using eco textiles.

Requiring garments that are easily laundered, durable and wear well, corporate customers, according to manufacturers and fabric suppliers, are yet to embrace organic corporatewear. Sourcing green textiles for the past two to three years from trends overseas, Corporate Dimension Clothing is currently in the testing and development process of its green product.

Admitting it is difficult to match corporate and retail demands - such as colour fastness and yarn quality - with organic textiles, account executive Nicholas Bye says from a corporate perspective there has been "a little bit" of interest but not a massive influx.

"The quality of eco fabrics has improved over the past couple of years but price is always an issue. If it does come in a similar price bracket you may see an increase in demand, but while it's at a premium it is difficult to sell. The corporatewear market is a fairly saturated market so it is highly competitive in terms of the pricing structure."

Noting that if the main fashion markets ordered eco textiles then they would be more freely available, Bye says if Germany, the US and other major markets demanded them then China would produce them more readily.

"[These counties] drive the demand. Australia is such a small piece of the [clothing industry], we are not big enough to create demand. Our market is more reactionary to what is happening overseas."

Agreeing cost is a contributing factor in the lack of eco uniforms and corporatewear, Doug Jackson, national sales manager of uniform company Fashion Biz says costs can rise significantly when working with organic cotton.

"While recycled fabrics such as modal or cotton alternatives such as bamboo can have a modest price differential to traditional fabrics, 100 per cent organic cotton can be more than double the price."

Seeing an increase in demand appearing at the user end in the corporate sector for garments that are "environmentally responsible", Jackson says to date this demand has been most evident in the promotional industry. "This is driven by marketing departments in larger companies asking promotional companies to put forward fabrics with limited eco footprints."

Investigating available options and price points that can be obtained, Fashion Biz is developing an eco range it hopes to launch next year.

"As responsible corporate citizens, suppliers such as ourselves are also investigating options in environmental packaging, such as recycled plastic and cardboard", adds Jackson.

Table Eight Corporate is planning to put in place new design and production initiatives to reduce the company's carbon footprint. It currently uses environmentally friendly fabric carrying the Oeko-Tex - a global testing and accreditation scheme for the screening of harmful substances within consumer textiles - standard certificate for high profile client National Australia Bank's wool blend uniforms.

Noting people are mindful of fabric produced under carbon neutral initiatives, Table Eight Corporate national sales manager Sean McWilliams says it's something in their mindset they are now starting to think about. "Tenders are now asking us to reduce our carbon footprint in production, but the costing of eco fabrics is an expensive process."

Adding that eco fabrics are not always practical; Table Eight Corporate design and development assistant Sin Won says customers ask for both stain and crease resistant, anti bacterial and the ability to withstand high temperatures for washing.  "Technology wise a lot of finishes today are more durable and wearable [than green alternatives]."

With the belief 'green' fabrics are going to play a larger and larger role in the fashion industry, Carol Crawford, director at Standard Universal Group points out because of Standardknit Fabrics belief in organic cotton fabrics they now stock them in their showrooms.

"They are still in the early stages, and haven't penetrated through to the mass end of the market, but this will come. Consumers feel reassured that they are making a sound environmental choice by choosing organic. Some large overseas retailers have embraced cotton organic lines."

Using organic cotton exclusively, US based outdoor clothing company Patagonia is setting a benchmark for Australian apparel manufacturers to aspire to. Nearly half the organic cotton Patagonia uses is from the Izmir region in Turkey, where some of the world's highest-quality cotton is grown.

Turkey supplies over 40 per cent of the world's organic cotton fibre. Conventional cotton typically uses synthetic fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides and in some regions defoliant is used before picking begins. All organic cotton must be grown without synthetic pesticides and be certified by an independent compliance certifier.

Commissioning an environmental impact assessment of four major fibers from an independent research company, Patagonia expected to learn that oil-based polyester and nylon were big energy consumers and sources of pollution. They were, but not on the scale of cotton. The 'natural' fiber proved to be by far the greatest environmental evildoer of the fibers studied. Twenty five per cent of all toxic pesticides used in agriculture are used in the cultivation of cotton.

Pushing for a demand in organically grown cotton fabrics, Standardknit Fabrics' range is manufactured in Australia using imported yarn and supplied to local manufacturers. But the knit supplier's corporate customers have not really embraced the whole eco-wear idea according to Crawford.

"We have increased the number of colours available in many of our stock organic lines. These colours are all dyed with eco-friendly dyestuffs; [But] colour choice in the corporate wear sector is the same as it has always been - they tend to stay within a basic colour palate."

Offering free organic combed cotton swing tickets when customers buy any product from its 'Organics' range, Standardknit Fabrics is also undertaking initial sample testing of recycled polyester.

Produced by recycling materials such as recycled soft drink (PET) bottles, unusable second quality fabrics and worn out garments, recycled polyester - already utilised as a commercial upholstery fabric - is slowly being introduced in to the apparel sector.

Currently producing organic cotton in Australia and China, Melbourne/Shanghai based ABMT Textiles is experiencing a fast growing area in recycled polyester.

Producing organic cotton and recycled polyester combinations, the textile company's CEO Brendan Kay says this allows ABMT to build a performance element into its offering and still put across the eco story.

"We only work with one raw material supplier. We can source the raw material from many different suppliers however few can meet the criteria needed regarding the recycled claim. Integrity and traceability are key points in telling this story. Customers want to be secure that their claims are legit with the data to back it up."

Living in China full-time Kay sees a lot of manufacturing making an environmental claim however they cannot back up their claims or offer full transparency in their supply chain. Also seeing a lot of growth in organic cotton, Kay says it's a big item for ABMT.

"More and more brands want to let their customers know they take the whole environmental issue seriously. Some customers just want to make a statement while others go to great lengths to ensure integrity is built into their claims regarding cleaner production and products."

By Samantha Docherty