"Green" business behind clothing fabrics

Outdoor sports brands seem to have taken a new direction, and functionality is no longer the only primary feature of products. After functionality, consumers and brands have increasingly attached importance to environmental protection. This trend was even more evident at the recently held 17th Asian Sportswear and Fashion Exhibition (ISPO). At this year's exhibition, many exhibitors launched environmentally friendly products, including the functional technology fabric brand GORE-TEX, which announced the launch of a new composite fabric using BIONIC recycled textiles, providing environmentally friendly solutions for the brand from the fabric level.

When discussing the development perspective of the industry's environmental protection trend, Wang Haoli, the sales director of the GORE-TEX brand in Greater China, was very expectant. He told the reporter, "We see that consumers are increasingly accepting of products, so we can see that many of our cooperative brands have taken product environmental protection and sustainable development as a brand strategy."“

How can fabrics be environmentally friendly?

It is understood that this time, GORE-TEX launched a new composite fabric using BIONIC recycled textiles, some of which are composed of recycled plastic waste from the coast, with environmental characteristics and waterproof, windproof, and breathable properties.

In fact, as the parent company of the GORE-TEX brand, Gore Company partnered with the Bionic team to invest in its plastic recycling and classification factory in C ó bano, Costa Rica. The factory converts recycled and classified plastic waste into textile raw materials, and the resulting textiles are then bonded to the innovative GORE-TEX film to ultimately produce BIONIC recycled composite fabrics.

Among the raw materials for polyester textiles, 50% of plastic waste is recycled from coastal areas by Bionic operating agencies, while the other 50% comes from waste recycled by other municipalities, and has obtained Global Recycling Standards (GRS) certification.

From the perspective of the overall fabric properties of GORE-TEX, functionality has always been a recognized advantage of GORE-TEX, but in addition, composite fabrics that do not contain PFC (perfluorinated compounds) have promoted GORE-TEX to achieve new achievements in environmental protection and sustainable development: they do not contain PFC (perfluorinated compounds) that affect the environment in the cycle of their mass consumer products, thereby protecting the corresponding Earth's environment. At the same time, according to the measurement results, the use of a new type of lightweight film and selected textile composite fabric can reduce carbon footprint emissions.

As a leading enterprise in the industry, GORE-TEX's technology research and development direction in fabrics is also seen as a development trend. From the industry perspective, technological innovation in fabrics is promoting the upgrading of environmental performance, which will play an important role in reducing carbon in the clothing industry. According to McKinsey's "2022 Fashion Industry White Paper", the clothing industry accounts for a quarter of the carbon emissions of China's major consumer goods industries. Among them, sports shoes and clothing brands have long explored the way in green consumption. In the field of sports consumer goods in China, environmental protection and sustainability have become one of the important labels for some brands to make their mark.

Put on environmental protection

With the vigorous development of outdoor sports such as camping and skiing, the outdoor clothing market is gradually opening up new consumption scenarios. At the same time, brands are also rapidly iterating in product research and development, respectively launching their own environmental concept products, and are committed to integrating carbon reduction throughout production, operation, and other processes.

If you pay attention to this year's spring and summer new products, you can see that Bosden, Kolon Sport, Peak Performance, and addias TERREX have all launched new products related to environmentally friendly fabrics. "Environmental friendly" sustainable development has become one of the trends in the fashion consumer market.

For example, outdoor shoe brand Salomon has introduced a new "green" concept on its new product this year: the latest shoe, Salomon XT-6 GTX, adds GORE-TEX expanded polyethylene (ePE) film and tear resistant mesh material. The most unique aspect of this fabric lies in its extremely strong green and environmental attributes: composite fabrics do not contain PFC (perfluorinated compounds) throughout their life cycle, which can reduce their carbon footprint, provide more durable protection for the wearer, and reduce the impact of the product's entire life cycle on the environment, thereby achieving green and low-carbon production methods and green consumption.

According to the person in charge of GORE-TEX, various outdoor brands are trying to use functional fabrics, while also improving the product's service cycle and environmental performance. In recent years, high-end outdoor clothing brands such as Archaeopteryx have also shown high popularity in the domestic market, and are not affected by the epidemic. "After entering the Chinese market, brands such as Archaeopteryx and Salomon have made localization attempts, and have become more environmentally friendly and multifunctional in the use of materials."

Currently, GORE-TEX has cooperated with many well-known outdoor leisure brands. At this ISPO exhibition, GORE-TEX showcased its previously launched new Spring/Summer 23 footwear and clothing products equipped with innovative expanded polyethylene ePE film, with cooperative brands including addias TERREX, Bosden, Salomon, Kolon Sports, Peak Performance, Patagonia, and others.

From the brand side, brand merchants have a very high acceptance of environmental protection. Wang Haoli said that the current demand for the entire outdoor sports market tends to be functional and fashionable. GORE-TEX tried to cooperate with the down jacket brand (or Chinese clothing brand) five or six years ago, and Bosden is the partner under this strategic framework.

The innovative products of the Bosden Product Innovation Research Institute have won the Industrial Design Award at the internationally recognized Red Dot Award for their sustainable concept. Currently, Bosden is working with GORE-TEX to develop a customized fabric COL, which also uses GORE-TEX's ePE film, as well as the use of biodegradable materials, providing the product with the possibility of environmental protection and sustainable development from the fabric level.

From a supply chain perspective, more and more brands are beginning to pay attention to the environmental attributes of materials. Zhu Jun, Marketing Director of GORE-TEX Brand in Greater China, introduced that in recent years, some luxury brands have also begun to focus on functionality, which has also made GORE-TEX's cooperation areas more extensive. At the Paris Fashion Week in January this year, GORE-TEX set up an exhibition area at a trendy buyer's store. Zhu Jun predicted that "In the future, GORE-TEX will appear among many trendy, fashionable, and luxury brands."

Will someone pay for being environmentally friendly?

The commercialization ability of new fabrics is also an important factor in whether they can be widely used. While the fabric is more environmentally friendly, it often means higher R&D investment, which may mean that the price of the product will have an upward trend.

GORE-TEX brand launches a new GORE-TEX composite fabric using BIONIC recycled textiles

Cheng Xi believes that when judging whether a technology is worth investing, a large number of third-party full cycle analysis will be used to assess the value of the technology; Secondly, it is necessary to assess the degree of commercialization of the technology and whether it can be used by more consumers and brands.

Cheng Xi introduced: "In recent years, only a portion of the cutting-edge technologies sought can be mass produced and commercialized, but at the same time they are sustainable. Bionic is currently a mature commercialized enterprise." This is also why GORE-TEX has been able to achieve cooperation with many brands.

From the consumer perspective, the acceptance of environmental protection concepts by consumers in the Chinese market is closely following the overall development trend of the global market. According to the figures in the "White Paper on China's New Generation Fashion Consumption", 80.4% of respondents believe that corporate social responsibility will affect individual purchasing behavior, and are more willing to choose brands with more environmentally friendly concepts. Young people who are more environmentally conscious than older consumers will become the main driving force behind this trend.

Zhu Jun introduced that the Chinese market is actually a very promising market, with diverse consumers and rapid changes, "Our consumers are also quick to accept new consulting and trends, including product updates. Young consumers have a more diverse acceptance, and they do not look at simple design, color, and style combinations as they used to. They have a consensus on many products and the background behind these content is actually what we are constantly influencing and transmitting to end consumers."

According to the "2022 China Consumer Insight" report released by Accenture, data shows that 43% of respondents are willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products or packaging. This means that the consumer market has a strong demand for environmental protection. In fact, young people with high income and high education are more actively involved in low-carbon consumption behaviors in different consumption stages of commodity purchase, use, and disposal. In terms of guiding green consumption by enterprises, it should be innovation in the three dimensions of technology, business, and value. Value innovation and dissemination should be integrated with business and technological innovation, rather than merely focusing on innovation in marketing methods and profit models. Although this is relatively difficult, it can bring about real business transformation.

It is worth noting that GORE-TEX has also upgraded its brand concept, promoting environmental protection to the perspective of brand concept. When talking about the significance of this move, Zhu Jun said that terminal products can provide consumers with a very intuitive and realistic feeling, and can better face consumers. Therefore, "from the brand level, environmental protection will also undertake the release of GORE-TEX's future products, enabling consumers to better understand product functions and concepts."

From: https://www.tnc.com.cn/info/c-001001-d-3729636.html