Companies should re-use their own waste
Marchi & Fildi, based at Biella in Italy, produces a wide range of cotton yarns. Its smart range Ecotec transforms 100 per cent pre-consumer pre-dyed cotton clippings into yarns with remarkable water, energy and CO2 savings. CEO Massimo Marchi in an interview with Fibre2Fashion shares his views on the circular economy and sustainable performance of Ecotec since its inception in 2016.
What are your thoughts on the circular economy? How far has the global textiles industry reached in adopting this concept?
The circular economy is fundamental to the textiles chain, as it is an extremely polluting industry. It is becoming more important by the day, and at the consumer level as well. The end-customer is asking for traceability and sustainability in fashion; and this is great news because as more attention is drawn to the circular economy, more laws will come up. At Marchi & Fildi, the exceptional process in creating Ecotec yarns can be a direct opportunity for brands and retailers to supply their own pre-consumer cotton fabric and knit clippings. Marchi & Fildi will have the clippings transformed into high quality Ecotec yarns optimising a joint endeavour that targets a (circular economy) zero-waste position.
What are the new types of yarns expected to hit the market this year?
This season, Ecotec will be widening its portfolio range thanks to the introduction of special yarns with counts and styles designed for knitwear production:
1. Ecotec moulinè and micromoulinè yarns: offering amazing colour effects and precious touch that is always fresh and cool. Considering that Ecotec yarns are not dyed, it is quite a smart look and achievement;
2. Ecotec cable: soft twists for full body hand, authentic touch and amazing colour cards.
More technology, new applications… these are opening up doors to new Ecotec partners in the market. It is essential to offer brands and designers a wider and interesting choice in terms of Ecotec fabrics.
What are the future plans at Marchi & Fildi to stay sustainable?
We will keep investing in R&D, researching on how to use wastes from the textiles value chain. We are increasingly investing in new machines to reduce the impact, changing the mentality of our co-workers, and pushing them as well to find new ways to impact less. Our cooperation with universities and research institutes will help us have a lead on sustainability and help others go green.
Sustainability is getting more hype. Everyone is not only talking about it just like a few years ago, but things are happening too.
Brands are demanding sustainable products and the possibility to dispose of their own waste without destroying it. We can do this and are already doing it with some brands- developing new products with them. We expect the next years to be crucial, as more laws are introduced to protect the environment, and buyers become more conscious of what they wear. Many changes will happen, and we are ready for them.
How do you regulate the usage of water at your units? What is the amount used at Marchi & Fildi?
The hydric consumption in the company comes mostly from the production of vapour, and from the climate control plants. With our new machines more yarns do not need vapour treatments, but what we still use comes mainly from our own authorised wells. We try to get as little water as possible from the common hydric system and we clean what we use. Our dyeing house mill can produce with 40 per cent less water than normal dyeing houses, and the water is purified after usage. To give some numbers, the hydric waste quantified in 0.31 l/kg of yarn are the same amount as the total waste of a house
How do you ensure sustainable production of yarns at your units?
The Ecotec range claims the Tessile E Salute certification promoted by Italian ministry of health, along with like Oeko-Tex 100, Certified Quality System Company ISO 9001:2015, and TF (Traceability and Fashion).
How much research and time went into Ecotec?
We have developed these products in the last 15 years; a lot of time, investment, cooperation and minds went into the creation of the Ecotec yarns.
Marchi & FIldi is always paying a lot of attention to market trends and needs. Waste recycling has always been on our mind, as a real challenge. During the 1960s, the technology for open-end spinning was developed; in the 1970s, the production of yarns made out of recycled jerseys started, but just for low quality yarns (as the ones for mattress/bedding). Through the last years, Marchi & Fildi, thanks to highly innovative and customised technological processes and precise investment in equipment, R&D resources and in the sorting of pre-consumer 100 percent cotton materials, has been able to not just raise the quality of the yarn, but also introduce a new level of solutions that can perfectly fit into the fashion industry with incredible performance on technical and environmental levels.
How durable is Ecotec when compared to virgin cotton yarns? Do they blend easily with other yarns? Which major brands make use of Ecotec?
Ecotec is already the smart choice of three premium brands:
- Marimekko is a Finnish design company renowned for its original prints and colours. The company's product portfolio includes high-quality clothing, bags and accessories as well as home décor items ranging from textiles to tableware. Marimekko is always on the lookout for new sustainable materials and the company's target is to increase the share of sustainable cotton and other sustainable materials in its collections. The company's summer 2016 collection included a jersey series called Stripe 15 made with Ecotec yarn from textile industry waste. The company's designer fell in love with the fabric's rough and dry, slightly linen-style feel, and the recycled material was chosen for the collection as it also performed very well in tests.
- For the SS 2016, Manifattura CBM created a poncho for Eileen Fisher. The fabric is realised in Ecotec Polaris yarn (65 per cent Ecotec, 35 per cent CO). As stated by the brand: "Spun from garments or cutting room scraps, recycled and reclaimed cotton yarns have a speckly, mélanged effect. Their environmental advantage: They eliminate farming, harvesting and ginning, reducing both energy and transportation needs."
- Recent Ecotec brand adoptions include Jan'n June, the German brand, founded in 2014, whose aim is to offer garments that are fashionable, affordable and environmentally responsible. Produced by a family owned company in Poland, Jan'n June operates a strong transparency policy with printed QR-Codes on the hangtags to give its customers all the key information about fabrics, production values and certification for every garment. The collection for SS '18 has a minimal look with clean cuts using a neutral colour palette as part of this brand's appeal. The designers have used material contrasts as an important feature of the collection, combining flowing fabrics with more rigid, stiffened qualities topped off with light knitwear pieces. A unique piece is a new, bold sweatshirt made with a Tintex fabric that uses Ecotec Smart Cotton by Marchi & Fildi yarn, the only Made in Italy transformed cotton that saves up to 77.9 per cent of water in comparison to conventional cotton.
How have the responses been to Ecotec since the launch in 2016?
The response is getting more enthusiastic, and the project is drawing attention. Our yarns have huge savings on consumption, and brands, designers and technicians see the potential in them. They have been interpreted in all sectors, from circular, to flat knitting, from weaving for fashion to weaving for upholstery. Since the launch, several companies have decided to become Ecotec accredited partners; meaning they decided to start use and communicate Ecotec within their collections. Partners include: 3C Company S.r.l., Euromaglia Srl, Lanificio Comatex, Ledatex, Manifattura CBM, Mundotextil, Nalya, O'Jersey, RDD, Sidònios Knitwear, Tessuti & Tessuti Srl, Tintex Textiles.
Which innovative technologies do you make use of to reduce or curb the consumption of water?
The machines are fundamental; but also, continuous research on the process, new fibres and technologies remain key. We cooperate with research institutes like the Politecnico of Turin, which has an R&D project developed with us at our company (especially on water).
What technology is used to make Ecotec? Is the yarn and the process patented?
Ecotec by Marchi & Fildi are 100 per cent cotton yarns that can contain up to 80 per cent of transformed material, another advantage in comparison to conventional transformed cotton. Thanks to our exclusive process, the inevitable, left over inventories generated during the production of clothing are gathered and transformed into yarns, naturally reducing waste and, of course, minimising the use of precious virgin resources, while at the same time maintaining the highest quality and efficiency standards. (HO)
Do your yarns take into consideration the amount of water required for manufacturing?
This process transforms already-dyed textile clippings into a 100 per cent cotton yarn with record savings in water and energy consumption. Metrics from an LCA (life cycle assessment) study conducted by ICEA show up to 56.3 per cent reduction on greenhouse gas emissions, up to 56.6 per cent in energy savings, and up to 77.9 per cent reduction in water consumption throughout the complete process.
What would be your top suggestions to reduce water consumption and pollution in the industry?
- Do not throw away textile clippings; use them to create something new, whether it's a new yarn or insulation material. These are very valuable products, and not waste.
- Invest in innovation, new machines and new processes to reduce the impact your company has.
- Re-use your own waste as much as possible, optimise your production and do not throw away your leftovers, find a way to give them value.
What are the challenges in keeping production processes and products eco-friendly?
Recycling of textile products is nowadays something that a consumer is looking at in a very positive way, but unfortunately the word "recycling" is too generic to explain the multiple varieties of recycling processes or materials. This means that we cannot define the qualities of these products. The use of a "passport" to go with products stating not just the composition, but also the origins of the materials and production process is needed. An LCA is something that could be of help. Brands and consumers are now more interested in recycling and the circular economy; but they do not have the right information to be able to understand the quality of a product from a responsible perspective.
By what percentage has consumption of water reduced at your units? By what percentage has this reduced manufacturing cost?
As we said, our dyeing house has reduced by 40 per cent the water consumptions with new machines; and we are reducing it in the spinning mill as well. Our yarns have huge impacts with savings up to 77.9 per cent on a 2000-litre water need for producing 1kg of cotton.
Has less consumption of water impacted the colour or any other attributes of the yarn?
Not at all; one uniqueness of Ecotec is the fact that the range is available in stock service in a wide yarn colour palette (more than 80 colours). A unique result.
