Diesel, Officina and Lenzing praised at CNMI awards
24/09/2024
Denim brand Diesel has received the Circular Economy Award presented by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as part of the 2024 Sustainable Fashion Awards organised by Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.
The award ceremony was held at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, at the close of Milan Fashion Week.
The brand was commended for its approach to circularity, through the Diesel Rehab Denim and Diesel Second Hand projects, as well as the collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
Diesel Rehab Denim is the first line made by the brand with more than 60% recycled cotton, partly from its own pre-consumer waste sent to Spanish partner and supplier Tejidios Royo and dyed without water, using 65% less energy and 90% less chemicals than traditional dyeing methods.
The brand worked with UNIDO to set up a closed-loop recycling system in Tunisia. By the end of 2024, 88,000 pairs of jeans made using at least 20% recycled fibres, derived from cutting waste from a Tunisian supplier’s processing operations, will be brought to market.
The brand has also made a mark with its “Diesel Second Hand” initiative, a project created to extend the life of Diesel denim garments, which can be returned by customers to Italian flagship stores and then resold, after being reconditioned, through the brand’s e-commerce site throughout Europe. Launched in 2021, this project was also extended to Japan in 2023.
Italian chemicals company Officina39 was nominated for the SFA Groundbreaker Award. "This important nomination encourages all of us to continue with passion and dedication in the development of new technologies for a more sustainable fashion industry, closer to the available resources on our beloved Earth," said Officina.
Other nominations include luxury brand Giorgio Armani for its Apulia Regenerative Cotton Project, an agroforestry initiative in Italy. The objective is not only to lower the environmental impact but also to develop an experimental systemic agroforestry regenerative cotton site to test and assess new ways to implement sustainable cotton production in Italy. Over five years, this farm site will be among the first field experiments in Europe testing agroforestry cotton with alternative tree species and regenerative practices.
The Lenzing Group was praised for its geotextiles project; traditional textiles used to protect ice and snow are made from fossil-based fibres, whereas Lenzing’s solution is made with its cellulosic fibres, which are biodegradable and recyclable.
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