Change of mindset needed or innovation will falter, warns BluConnection
Singapore-based indigo manufacturer BluConnection has warned a change of mindset is necessary to drive adoption of products that are better for the industry and for the environment.
Chemicals with improved credentials, including those from natural sources, are available but a resistance to deviate from the “status quo” means they often don't make it to the market.
“We need to get out of the rut of everything being solely price and cost driven,” BluConnection co-founder Alexander Bock told Inside Denim. “Jeans today are cheaper than they were 30 to 40 years ago – can you think of anything else that you use every day that is cheaper?
“Everybody in the supply chain wants to be more sustainable and might be even prepared to pay a little bit more, but the pressure from brands and retailers doesn't allow this. To be sustainable we need a common understanding of fair value, including brands and retailers. We have to move collectively."
BluConnection worked with a European university for more than two years on the development of a plant-based reducing agent, BluWit. The company is promoting this as ‘Nature Conscious Dyeing’ (NCD).
The NCD process using BluWit along with DenimBlu36 AR can fit into manufacturing processes easily and is cost effective, as well as being easy to handle and biodegradable, said Mr Bock. “It ticks many boxes, that is why we are so excited about it, for instance avoiding salt, which is a major issue in denim mills. If everybody switched to this process, it would save 70,000 tonnes of salt per year.”
However, brands and retailers must buy into these concepts, otherwise “great ideas will disappear”, warned Mr Bock.
Denim mills Naveena Lahore and Badjatex worked with BluConnection on a collection for Kingpins Amsterdam, showing garments processed with NCD.
