Business View Magazine May 2023

10 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 5 assessment made by Jeanologia, a Spanish textile technology manufacturer. By focusing on these parts of the company’s supply chain —materials, as well as the cutting, sewing and finishing process — Kontoor can “make the biggest impact in the smallest time,” Burge said, noting that raw materials and final assembly of the company’s product make up a large chunk of its carbon emissions. That reflects that fashion industry as a whole. A 2020 report from McKinsey estimated that upstream production —which includes material production, fabric preparation, and cut, make and trim processes — accounts for over half of the sector’s annual carbon emissions. Denim is particularly hard on the environment, with 1,500 gallons of water needed just to grow the pound and a half of cotton used in one pair of jeans. Even more water is used during the dyeing, rinsing and finishing processes. Other brands have been attempting to lower the environmental impact of their denim. In 2021, online retailer Revolve partnered with Recover, a textile fiber producer, to launch a 14-item collection of jeans that were each made with at least 15% recycled cotton. And earlier this year, fast fashion store Mango created a 15-piece denim collection featuring recycled cotton. Mango eliminated items like rivets and labels to make their jeans easier to recycle. For Kontoor, the company is aiming to have all of its products meet at least one of its new design standards in the future. Among its F/W 23 products, 56% of new Wrangler styles and 58% of new Lee styles meet one of the criteria, Burge said. The other two standards are focused on fabric manufacturing and finishing processes that use relatively low water, energy and chemicals. The company checks whether its apparel meets these standards through independent auditors via an in-house program, which measures the freshwater consumption of denim mills, and through an independent environmental impact Our global design standards provide a ‘scorecard’ to help our teams choose the best options in materials, fabric and finishing to create lower impact products that still meet the standards of our brands