From the Sector

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas is testifying on “Supply Chain Resiliency and the Role of Small Manufacturers” before the Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access.
 
In written testimony submitted to the committee, Glas provides an overview of the incredible resiliency of the U.S. textile industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of the ensuing economic crisis, existing options available to small manufacturers to access capital, and policy recommendations to strengthen the entire industry domestic supply chain.

“One silver lining associated with the immense challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis is that it afforded the domestic textile industry an opportunity to demonstrate its enormous resiliency, flexibility, and overall value to the U.S. economy,” Glas says in the testimony. “Despite the fact that there was virtually no [full] U.S. production of textile-based PPE prior to the pandemic, the heroic actions of domestic textile manufacturers resulted in the ability to supply homegrown PPE at the height of the greatest healthcare emergency our country has faced in the past 100 years.”

“As we exit the current crisis, rational federal policies are once again needed to ensure a stable overall environment where small businesses can compete and thrive, and targeted initiatives are required to ensure that domestic supply chains for critical materials, such as PPE, exist in the United States,” Glas notes.

Glas details five key policy recommendations supported by 20 trade associations and labor groups, representing the entire domestic supply chain aimed at strengthening the integrated U.S. textile sector:

• Strengthen Buy American procurement rules
• Provide funding assistance for companies to reconstitute domestic supply chains important to U.S. national and healthcare security
• Key contracting reforms
• Streamline the SBA loan application process
• Provide additional funding for workforce training

Please view the full written testimony by NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas here.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber through finished products, issued a statement from NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas today, voicing concern over the administration’s executive order instituting a non-reciprocal 90-day deferral on certain tariffs.
The temporary postponement of duties does not apply to products with antidumping or countervailing duties or those products subject to penalty duties under Section 232, 201 and 301.

“At a time when domestic textile producers and its workforce have mobilized to transform their production lines to manufacture the personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies for frontline healthcare and medical workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration’s decision to defer duties for 90 days on the vast majority of products imported into the United States is counterproductive.
This move contradicts the administration’s top stated priority of rebuilding American manufacturing and buying American and could have severe negative implications for the entire U.S. textile industry, whose companies and workforce already are facing enormous economic hardship.
We support the need to temporarily eliminate barriers to the entry of emergency medical supplies and certain PPE inputs tied directly to the COVID-19 response. But make no mistake, the key drivers behind efforts to defer tariffs have nothing to do with facilitating access to PPE products or stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Our industry is being asked to do extraordinary things.  We are heeding that call, but we need help to ensure the supply chains we are creating overnight don’t evaporate tomorrow.  We need strong procurement policies and additional funding for our industries to ramp up and retool – not further measures that incentivize offshore production. We need to maximize the U.S. domestic production chain right now to every extent possible in helping fight COVID-19 and make the products American frontline workers desperately need.  

We need to provide immediate and substantial relief to our manufacturing sector and their workforce who are suffering enormously right now. It’s critical that we have a long-term U.S. government plan to ensure that we aren’t relying on offshore producers to make medically necessary, live-saving PPE.  We shouldn’t be providing handouts to reward the very companies that helped offshore these industries so many years ago.

Tariffs are one of the few mechanisms in place to help partially address the challenges U.S. manufacturers face in competing with imports from countries with exceptionally low wages, poor working conditions, and minimal environmental and safety standards.”, states the NCTO.

To Accelerate Public-Private Cooperation in Supply Chain Transparency

Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) has joined the first neutral and public traceability platform capable of visualising blockchain-based supply chain data from multiple companies and sources. It aims to help businesses across industries respond to consumer demands for ethical and environmentally friendly products.
The neutral and safe space for collaboration is provided by the World Economic Forum and created in collaboration with Everledger, Lenzing Group, TextileGenesis™, and the International Trade Centre. APR will contribute to Phase 2 of the initiative which seeks to incorporate more data sources.

“APR has started harnessing the potential of enterprise blockchain technology to enable customers to trace finished products back to the plantation forest origins on a smartphone app. To be able now to connect our data to other similar industry initiatives is a natural next step for APR, as is extending the benefits of our upstream traceability to the rest of the textile value chain.

Enhancing Follow Our Fibre with New Mill Sustainability Dashboard

Launched in mid-2019, APR’s blockchain-based Follow Our Fibre allows customers and stakeholders to scan its viscose product with a user-friendly app to access data that traces the product’s journey from plant nursery to viscose manufacturing and on to seaports. In October 2019, APR announced a collaboration with TrusTrace to integrate Follow Our Fibre with the latter’s T-Trace module. This helps connect APR’s upstream data to downstream textile value chain actors such as yarn and fabric customers and fashion brands.

More recently, a sustainability dashboard tracking key mill environmental performance indicators has been added to Follow Our Fibre. The dashboard presents APR’s performance in its first year of operations where a baseline has been established for quarterly tracking, reporting and continuous improvement.
The performance indicators follow key industry standards being set by ZDHC for Man-Made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF), as well as the European Union Best Available Technologies (EU BAT).

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, has presented an aniline-free* denim indigo dye at the recent Planet Textiles 2018 Conference in Vancouver, Canada. The brand new dye provides a non-toxic way to produce the traditional, iconic indigo blue that consumers associate with denim and jeans.
Currently, aniline impurities are an unavoidable element of producing indigo-dyed denim. Unlike other chemical impurities, aniline is locked into the indigo pigment during the dyeing process and therefore cannot be washed off the fabric.

Scientific testing has shown that aniline impurities are toxic to humans, causing skin allergies, damage to major organs and genetic defects, as well as being linked to cancer. Aniline is also toxic to aquatic life, which is an issue as two thirds of the 400 metric tons of aniline waste on an annual basis ends up in the environment as wastewater discharge. The toxic chemical is therefore starting to feature on the restricted substance lists (RSL) of some major clothing brands and retailers. “We have tested denim garments and found that aniline concentrations are frequently higher than expected,” says Alexander Wessels, CEO, Archroma. “This could put some manufacturers over the limits agreed on their RSLs.”

True to its commitment to take on innovation challenges, Archroma decided to take a closer look at the issue with its R&D experts, and developed an alternative system that is aniline free*.
“At Archroma, we continuously challenge the status quo in the deep belief that we can make our industry sustainable,” continues Alexander Wessels. “By removing a hazardous impurity from the denim supply chain, we aim to protect the workers who create denim, the consumers who wear denim, and the environment with cleaner waterways.” The Denisol® Pure Indigo 30 dye is the latest in a long line of sustainable innovations for denim started in 2009. That year, Archroma introduced its ‘Advanced Denim’ technology which uses up to 90% less water during the dyeing process. “Being not indigo but sulfur based, ‘Advanced Denim’ itself was an aniline free solution too!”, adds Alexander Wessels. For designers and brand owners who long for authentic indigo inspiration, the new Denisol® Pure Indigo 30 now also makes it possible to produce indigo-dyed denim without high levels aniline impurities. Archroma successfully tested Denisol® Pure Indigo 30 at Absolute Denim mill in Thailand. “During the testing everything performed exactly the same as it would with conventional indigo,” says Vichai Phromvanich, Board Member, Absolute Denim. “There was just one important difference: no aniline.”

“We’ve had an overwhelming positive reaction from the industry in sneak previews and during the launch at Planet Textiles,” continues Alexander Wessels. “As a responsible industry leader, we believe it’s important to actively look for eco-advanced solutions that are attractive and at the same time cost-efficient for clothing brands, retailers and end-consumers.”

Archroma will make the Denisol® Pure Indigo 30 dye in the most sustainable way as possible. The new dye will be produced in Archroma’s facility in Pakistan, a plant that made the headlines in 2012 for being what Archroma believed to be the industry’s first zero liquid discharge plant.