Denim Privé Works Toward Carbon Neutrality, ZDHC-Compliant Chemistry

Angela Velasquez
·3 min read

Denim Privé takes a deeper look at its impact in the 2022 sustainability report it recently released.

The inaugural report from the Kassim Group-owned vertically integrated unit details its five sustainability pillars: resource efficiency, social responsibility, collaboration, innovation and transparency.

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As Pakistan’s first LEED Platinum facility, Denim Privé states that its operations and manufacturing processes optimize production output relative to environmental resource consumption and waste production.

Climate action is a key focus for the family-owned company which produced 3.9 million pieces in 2022.

Last year, Denim Privé achieved a per-piece greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 5 percent.

The garment manufacturer is working toward a low-carbon future that goes beyond the targets of Science-Based Targets Initiative and the Paris Agreement, however. It aims to be carbon neutral by 2030, and plans to halve its carbon footprint by 2027.

Denim Privé said it’s “chipping away at this goal” by monitoring energy consumption, examining Scope 3 emissions to find areas for improvement and using clean and renewable energy produced onsite and implementing “cutting-edge” technologies and processes.

The company is in the process of expanding its onsite solar farm. By the end of 2023, the installation will grow from 1,609 kW to 2,490 kW, generating an estimated 80 percent of its total electrical consumption.

“Executing these strategies, we aim to achieve climate neutrality and exhibit industry-leading energy performance. Ultimately this will raise the bar for the fashion industry and show our peers that denim and apparel production does not need to come at the cost of the climate and future generations,” Denim Privé states in the report.

From hemp to cotton, natural fibers accounted for 91 percent of the fabric Denim Privé used in 2022.

The company is looking into more responsible and regenerative farming practices, particularly by farmers who are part of Better Cotton’s sustainability work. In 2022, 83 percent of the cotton that Denim Privé used for garments was BCI. The target is to increase that share to 100 percent by the end of 2023.

Recycled fibers are a priority as well. In 2022, recycled cotton accounted for 4 percent of the materials used in Denim Privé’s cotton-based products.

Total water consumption increased 8.5 percent from 2021 to 2022, however Denim Privé said most of the water usage difference came from the construction of another building on its campus.

While the amount of production water per piece barely moved from 2021 to 2022 (64.90 liters to 64.72 liters), the company said it continues to work towards its 2025 process water consumption target of 50 liters per piece. Technologies like Blue Volt, which uses a spray system to dye garments, and finishing and washing solutions from Jeanologia, Yilmak, Tonello and Garmon are helping drive down water usage.

In 2022, 80 percent of its production chemicals complied with ZDHC’s standards.

Third-party verification is a “built-in mode of safety and transparency” for chemical management, Denim Privé stated. Verifications are performed by SGS, Bluesign, ZDHC, OEKO-TEX and ToxFMD Screened Chemistry.

By 2025, Denim Privé states that it intends “to join the SAC as a Corporate Member, joining other leaders in sustainable fashion to advance the Higg Index” and to become a contributor to the ZDHC.

The company is also organizing a Sustainability Committee to integrate the consideration of economic, environmental, and social issues into decision-making, operations and business processes.