Levi’s water action works for Bangladesh
“We can save about 59.28 percent of water during the dyeing process, and about 20 percent in the finishing process,” Kutubuddin Ahmed, Chairman, Envoy Group
First it was Ananta, and then others followed suit.
A Levi Strauss initiative to make jeans greener by reducing the use of water seems to be catching on, and 21 Bangladesh suppliers to the world's largest jeans maker are all falling in line with the Levi action plan.
The initiative first began with Levi's Future-led-Execution, or FLX as they call it, with the aim of reducing water use by 50 percent. Ananta Apparels was the first to start the programme.
Levi has recently announced its Water Action Strategy 2025, and wants its suppliers to halve their use of water.
Now all their Bangladesh suppliers have spurred into action.
Ananta Apparels Ltd, Ananta Denim Technology Ltd and Envoy Textiles Limited have made significant progress in saving water and reducing chemical consumption. Medlar Apparels, another supplier to Levi, is preparing to meet the brand's targets.
In its assessment, Levi Strauss found that more than 3,000 litres of water is used during the full production cycle of a single pair of jeans. Of that amount, 49 percent is used to grow cotton, and 45 percent by customers when they wash their jeans. The remaining 6 percent is used during the manufacturing process of the cloth.
Now that means a lot for Bangladesh because Levi sources 3.95 crore pieces of denim from Bangladesh annually, valued at about Tk2,520 crore.
Ananta Apparels has signed an agreement with Levi as the first Bangladeshi vendor to reduce water consumption, its Managing Director Sharif Zahir told The Business Standard.
"We have already achieved the Levi Water Action target by modernising production. We no longer use manual production techniques," he said.
Ananta Apparels and Ananta Denim Technology do about Tk294 crore worth of business with the brand. They produce about 60 lakh pieces of denims for Levi every month.
"The traditional method requires a minimum of 55 litres of water to wash a pair of jeans. Under the new scheme, we can halve the water use and reduce the wash cycle," said Sharif.
Ananta's wash cycle used to be 15-20 minutes, which meant more water consumption. Now it has come down to a minute.
"This helped in cutting the use of hazardous chemicals in the washing and the finishing process," Sharif said.
"We have already achieved the Water Action Strategy 2025 target. Hopefully, we will be able to produce 100 percent sustainable products for Levi Strauss by this year," he added.
Envoy Textiles Limited, a denim fabrics supplier for Levi Strauss, has reduced water usage by over 80 percent in the dyeing and finishing process.
"We can save about 59.28 percent of water during the dyeing process, and about 20 percent in the finishing process," Envoy Chairman Kutubuddin Ahmed said.
"In the normal process we need 35 litres water per yard of denim fabric for dyeing. However, in the sustainable process the water requirement has come down to 15 litres," said Kutubuddin.
Envoy does about Tk58.8 crore worth of business with Levi Strauss.
Medlar Apparels also plans to fulfil brand targets, and will invest in it heavily.
Levi Strauss' two other Bangladeshi suppliers – Ayesha Clothing Ltd and Ayesha Washing Ltd – belong to the Palmal Group of Industries Ltd.
The group's managing director, Nafis Sikder, told The Business Standard, "We are reducing water consumption every year based on the brand's requirements."
The suppliers must fulfil the common targets of the brand to continue their business, he added.
The company has a plan to go for zero discharge – aiming to minimise water consumption soon, said Nafis Sikder.
The industry has no alternative but to reduce water consumption in order to survive, he added.
Denimach Ltd and Denitex Limited – two other Bangladeshi suppliers to Levi Strauss – are sister concerns of the Armana Group.
The group's Human Resource and Admin Director Kushul Kumar Das said they are installing some highly efficient machines to reduce water consumption.
He hoped to reduce the company's water consumption by 50-60 percent by February 2020.
At the same time, they also focus on reducing the use of chemicals, he said, adding: "Denimach Limited has been registered with Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals gateway since its inception in July 2017."
Reducing the consumption of water and chemicals is interlinked, he added.
Zero Discharge is a holistic approach to tackle the issue of hazardous chemicals in the global textile, leather and footwear value chain.
Zero Discharge upgrades its parameters of chemical formulations used in production processes every year, and its members follow that, added Kushul.
Talking to The Business Standard, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Rubana Huq said, "We want to have a sustainable and environment-friendly industry. It is a key option for our survival."
According to BGMEA officials, the country's apparel makers needed 230-250 litres of water for a pair of jeans in the dyeing process in 2012.
Now the consumption has come down to 40 litres in many factories, and the apparel makers are trying their best to reduce it even more, added the officials.
The apex body of apparel makers has taken the initiative to reduce water consumption by establishing the first green apparel industry. Now there are 95 green factories.
"We also established a cell at the BGMEA to carry out research on the efficient use of energy, chemical consumption, and green technologies," said BGMEA former vice-president (finance) Mohammed Nasir.
Levi Strauss Water Action Strategy 2025
The company has also urged customers to wash their jeans every two weeks instead of every week. This will help save 14 litres of water, enough to meet the drinking water need of a single person for five days.
The Water Action Strategy 2025 is a follow-up to its 2011 "Water<Less" initiative. The initiative saved some 3 billion litres of water by 2018, and could save some 50 billion litres in the apparel industry by 2020.
Levi Strauss has a partnership with the International Finance Corporation's Partnership for Cleaner Textiles (PaCT) to help its suppliers achieve the Water Action Strategy 2025 target.