New Wave Textiles Sustainability Report 2021 | Page 32

32 Examples from the brands
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TEXET WORKWEAR Texet Workwear is a leading supplier of high-quality corporate wear , workwear and promotional textiles in the BeNeLux Area and concept owner of the brands Printer Active Wear and Harvest Sportswear . They have indeed taken increased market demands on transparency and sustainability seriously and are determined to go beyond legal requirements in order to contribute to sustainable development . Among other things , they are founding members of the Belgian initiative Circletex . Together with other industry players the aim is to set-up a system to collect end of life goods and try to find new solutions for the waste . They have also developed
1 . Goal & the Printer Prime collection , where all products are
Scope made of organic cotton and / or recycled polyester and where sustainability challenges are considered throughout the production chain .
2 . Life cycle inventory
4 . Interpretation
To move towards a more sustainable product portfolio as well as informing and creating awareness among consumers to promote conscious choices , Texet Workwear decided in 2021 to start calculate the environmental impact , through so called Product Life Cycle Analyses ( LCA ), for some of their products . During the year they achieved to set up a solid LCA system . This is how they tell about their experiences :
” First step was to search for a trustworthy partner . This partner was found in Ecochain Technologies . By partnering with the environmental experts of Ecochain , insights are provided into the footprint of product developments . We use the standardized LCA-methodology following ISO 14040 and 14044 , which gives it reliability and transparency . The methodology outlines four phases :
The first phase includes goal and scope definition . To consistently measure the product impact , we decided to introduce cradle-to-gate LCA modelling , meaning from resource extraction ( cradle ) to our warehouse ( i . e ., before it is transported to the consumer ). A model is a simplification of a complex reality and as with all simplifications , this means that the reality will be distorted in some way . The challenge for an LCA practitioner is to make sure the simplification and distortions do not influence the results too much . This is the reason why both the use and disposal phase are excluded since these would bring additional uncertainty and assumptions in the product footprint . The biggest impact can be made on the internal production processes , covered by the cradle-to-gate LCA scope .
The second phase is inventory analysis . To establish a streamlined data collection of all environmental inputs and outputs , a standardized product datasheet was developed . Detailed data from the manufacturers and buying offices is used as much as possible as input for the LCA calculations . In case of insufficient data ( e . g ., average energy composition mix in a country or the average impact of cotton cultivation ), the
3 . Impact established EcoInvent database
Assessment is used for collection of verified data . Phase three and four includes the actual Life Cycle Impact Assessment and Interpretation . The impact of each modelled product is shown by the CO2 e and the used amounts water and energy . This outcome is shown on the hangtags of the products . By using the same method now and in the future , over time it will be more and more possible to compare different products and designs in the collection of Texet based on these parameters . Moreover , using the Ecochain Calculator it becomes possible to convert the environmental data into , for example , the equivalent cups of coffee or internet searches with the same footprint to make the information more accessible and easy to understand .
We have now calculated the environmental impact of all the garments of the Printer Prime collection . Next , the way forward is calculating the impact of all new developments within the Printer and Harvest collections . We have seen that the product impact can be drastically decreased by choosing more sustainable materials like spun-dyed polyester , rPET or organic cotton . From now on , based on LCA calculations , it will be possible to take the environmental impact into consideration before , during and after product development .”
Pieter de De Wint Sustainability Manager at Texet Workwear