Asian garment makers push new boundaries amid ‘wake-up call’ towards sustainable fashion

European regulators are working towards introducing rules by 2030 that would aim for all textile products sold in the bloc to be made of recyclable, long lasting and materials free of hazardous substances. The US also appears set to follow suit over the long term.

Globally, just 12 per cent of clothing are recycled, and most end up as waste due to fast-changing fashion trends, but the trend promises to change.

“There’s a whole movement of people that wants to get sustainably going in the apparel business,” Delman Lee, vice-chair of TAL, told This Week in Asia.

The company produces garments from these inputs – supplying premium US fashion brands such as Brooks Brothers and JC Penney.

“The fabric mills that do the weaving and the dyeing use a lot of water and heat, and heat is generated with coal,” he said.

Between 2009 and 2018, TAL reduced its greenhouse gas intensity per unit of production by 21 per cent. This translated to the avoidance of 23,450 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from operations, or about 54,292 barrels of oil.

The company has also zoomed into use of better cotton to lower its environmental impact.

The cultivation of cotton, which is one of the most widely used natural fibres in the world, can have a significant impact because of traditional farming methods that can lead to soil degradation, water scarcity, and the use of harmful chemicals.

“So we go directly to the farmer and say, if you grow your cotton in such a way, and get certified to be organic and regenerative, we will commit to you and hopefully is a way to trigger the whole system working in a little bit of a demand and supply,” he added.

Regenerative farming practices aim to leave the land in a better condition than the previous cycle,