Each year, Walmart Inc. recognises which of its suppliers is making the biggest impact through leaving the least impact environmentally and applauds its assistance in helping Walmart reach its own sustainability goals, the company said in a press release.
This year, the award went to Epic Group who produces low water denim jeans for Walmart, which uses a staggering 60 per cent less water in the fabric dying, finishing and laundry processes than conventional processes.
“We are delighted for this recognition and even prouder to be the launch partner for Walmart’s sustainability range. We can now boast 4.8 million garments created from sustainable fibres including, organic cotton, recycled polyester and sustainable manmade cellulose fibres,” said Vidhura Ralapanawe, Epic Group’s head of sustainability.
Independently, Epic Group’s Higg Index score is on schedule to hit 75 by 2023, with their current average score already reaching 63. The group has achieved a 14.7 per cent reduction in carbon intensity and a water intensity reduction of 15.3 per cent from their 2017 baseline.
“With our upgraded effluent treatment solution which reuses 30-50 per cent of the manufacturing water, we expect to halve our water intensity figure this year,” said Sunil Daryanani and Dinesh Virwani, Epic Group’s joint CEOs.
The number of risky chemicals used in operations has also been reduced from 77 to 5. Epic Group is also investing in rooftop solar systems on their factories to further reduce overall emissions. Epic Group’s own upstream supply chain is also carefully monitored through Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) assessment, and the group works with their supply chain and partners to improve their environmental performance, the release added.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)