Indian textile industry now donning a green colour, join hands with a global industry group, led by retail major Marks and Spencer and the University of Leeds called Reducing the Impact of Textiles on Environment (RITE)—which aims at reducing the negative environmental impact from the production of textiles and apparel throughout its supply chain. Other members of the initiative include Sri Lankan apparel exporter Brandix, retail major Tesco and apparel company Gap Inc.
“The initiative assumes significance as India is a developing country with an aspiring consumption drive and vast untapped markets, but appears to be largely divorced from emerging sensitivities on sustainable production processes, consumption, retail, policies and environmental hazards,’’ said AKG Nair group director at the Pearl Academy of Fashion.
The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), the representative body of garment exporters and producers, signed the charter recently on the sidelines of an international conference on ‘Sustainability of Textile Fashion Industry Chain: Crop to Shop’, organized by Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF) and North India section of Textile Institute (NISTI).
Under the programme, PAF will set up joint apparel and garment coordination committee for sustainability. PAF is proposing to come out with the best practice manual for sustainability for the fashion value chain.
GAP Inc has offered $5000 as the seed fund for the initiative. Lakshmi Menon Bhatia, director, Global Partnership, Social Responsibility, Gap Inc emphasised on the need to set up a task force of the representatives of the government, NGOs and industry to look at the critical issues in the supply chain to address the issues of sustainability. AEPC and PAF plan to take the suggestion further.
It may be noted that the textile and clothing sector contributes about 14% of the industrial production, 17% of the export earnings and 4% of the GDP besides providing direct employment to about 35 million people, making it the second largest provider of employment after agriculture. “The industry’s size and extensive use of raw materials and chemicals makes it mandatory to adopt technologies that are environmentally sustainable,” said Rakesh Vaid, chairman, AEPC.
The sector is a big consumer of natural resources. For example, one of the profligate users and pit requires 2,650 litre water to produce a tshirt and 10,000 litre to produce a pair of jeans.
It’s estimated that 1,500 billion liters of water can be saved every year if all apparel producers use latest dyeing and finishing technology, he said.
