The "Green" Business Behind Clothing Fabrics

Outdoor sports brands seem to have a new direction. Functionality is no longer the only primary feature of products. After functionality, consumers and brands pay more and more attention to environmental protection. This trend is more evident in the recent 17th Asian Sports Goods and Fashion Show (ISPO). At this year's exhibition, many exhibitors launched environmentally friendly products. Among them, the functional technology fabric brand GORE-TEX announced the launch of a new composite fabric using BIONIC recycled textiles to provide environmentally friendly solutions for the brand from the fabric level.

When talking about the development of environmental protection trends in the industry, Wang Haili, sales director of GORE-TEX Brand Greater China, is looking forward to it. He told reporters: "We see that consumers are more and more 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 the GORE-TEX launched a new type of composite fabric using BIONIC recycled textiles, part of the textile composition from the coastal recycling of plastic waste, with environmental protection characteristics and waterproof, windproof, breathable performance.

In fact, the parent company of the GORE-TEX brand, Gore, in partnership with the Bionic team, has invested in its plastic recycling and sorting plant in Covano, Costa Rica (Cóbano), which converts recycled plastic waste into textile raw materials, which are then bonded to innovative GORE-TEX films and finally made into BIONIC recycled composite fabrics.

Of the raw materials for polyester textiles, 50% of the plastic waste is recycled from coastal areas by the Bionic operating organization, and the other 50% comes from waste recycled by other municipalities and is certified by the Global Recycling Standard (GRS).

From the perspective of GORE-TEX overall fabric properties, 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 results in environmental protection and sustainable development.: In the cycle of its mass consumer products, it does not contain PFC (perfluorinated compounds) that affect the environment, thereby protecting the corresponding global environment. At the same time, according to the measurement results show that through the use of lighter new films and selected textiles composed of composite fabrics, carbon footprint emissions can be reduced.

As the head of the industry, GORE-TEX technology research and development direction on the fabric is also regarded as the development trend. From an industry perspective, technological innovation in fabrics is promoting the upgrading of environmental performance, which will play an important role in reducing carbon in the apparel industry. According to McKinsey's "2022 Fashion Industry White Paper" statistics, the clothing industry accounts for 1/4 of the carbon emissions of China's major consumer goods industry. Among them, sports shoes and clothing brands have been exploring the way of green consumption for a long time. In the field of sports consumer goods in China, environmental protection and sustainability have become one of the important labels for some brands.

Will be environmentally friendly wear

Under the blessing of the vigorous development of outdoor sports such as camping and skiing, the outdoor clothing market has gradually opened up new consumption scenes. At the same time, the brand's research and development of products is also rapidly iterating, launching their own environmental protection concept products, and is committed to reducing carbon throughout the production, operation and other processes.

If you pay attention to the new products in spring and summer this year, you can see that Bosideng, Kolon Sport (Kolon), PeakPerformance,addias TERREX, etc. have all introduced new products related to environmental protection fabrics. "Environmental protection" sustainable development has become one of the trends in the fashion consumer market.

For example, outdoor shoe brand Salomon (Salomon) introduced a new "green" concept on this year's new product: the latest shoe Salomonon XT-6 GTX added GORE-TEX expanded polyethylene (ePE) film and tear-proof mesh material. The most unique part of this fabric is its strong green environmental protection attribute: the composite fabric does not contain PFC (perfluorinated compound) in the whole life cycle, which can reduce the carbon footprint, provide more lasting protection for the wearer, reduce the impact of the whole life cycle of the product on the environment, so as to realize the green low-carbon production mode and green consumption.

According to the person in charge of the GORE-TEX, the major outdoor brands are trying to use functional fabrics, but also improve the life cycle and environmental performance of the products. In recent years, high-end outdoor clothing brands such as Archaeopteryx have also shown high heat in the domestic market and have not been affected by the epidemic. "After entering the Chinese market, Archaeopteryx, Salomon and other brands have made localization attempts, and the use of materials is more environmentally friendly and multi-functional."

At present, GORE-TEX has cooperated with many well-known outdoor leisure brands. At this ISPO exhibition, GORE-TEX exhibited the 23 spring/summer shoes and clothing products previously introduced with innovative expanded polyethylene ePE film. The cooperative brands include addias TERREX, Bosideng, Salomon, Kolon Sports, PeakPerformance and Patagonia.

From the brand side, the brand business for the acceptance of environmental protection is very high. Wang Haoli said that at present, the demand of the whole outdoor sports market tends to be functional and fashionable. GORE-TEX tried to cooperate with down jacket brand (or Chinese clothing brand) five or six years ago, and Bosideng was the partner under the strategic framework.

The innovative products of Bosideng Product Innovation Institute won the Industrial Design Award in the international authoritative Red Dot Award because of its sustainable concept. At present, Bosideng is jointly developing customized fabric COL with GORE-TEX. It has also adopted GORE-TEX ePE film and the use of biodegradable materials, which provides the possibility of environmental protection and sustainable development for products from the fabric level.

From a supply chain perspective, more and more brands are focusing on the environmental properties of materials. Zhu Jun, marketing director of GORE-TEX Brand Greater China, said that in recent years, some luxury brands have also begun to pay attention to functionality, which also makes GORE-TEX areas of cooperation more extensive. At the Paris Fashion Week in January this year, GORE-TEX set up an exhibition area in a fashion buyer's shop. Zhu Jun predicted: "In the future, GORE-TEX will appear in many fashion, fashion and luxury brands."

When the environmental protection upper body, will someone pay?

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 is passed on to the product price side, which may mean that the price of the product will rise.

GORE-TEX brand launches new GORE-TEX composite fabric with BIONIC recycled textile

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

Cheng Xi said: "only part of the cutting-edge technologies we have been looking for in recent years can be mass-produced and commercialized, but at the same time it is sustainable, and Bionic is currently a more mature commercial enterprise." This is also the reason why GORE-TEX can cooperate with many brands.

From the consumer side, 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 "China New Generation Fashion Consumption White Paper", 80.4 percent of respondents believe that corporate social responsibility will affect personal buying behavior, and they are more willing to choose brands with more environmentally friendly concepts. Young people who are more environmentally conscious than older consumers will be the main driver of this trend.

Zhu Jun introduced that the Chinese market is actually a very potential market. Consumers are very diverse and change rapidly. "Our consumers accept fresh consultations and trends, including the trend of product updates, and young consumers accept it very quickly. The degree is more diverse, and he will not look at simple designs, colors, and styles as before. He has given consensus on many products, the combing of these contents behind the background is actually what we are now constantly influencing each other and passing on to the end consumers."

According to the "2022 China Consumer Insights" report released by Accenture, the 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, in the different consumption links of commodity purchase, use and disposal, young people with high income and high education are more active in low-carbon consumption behavior. In terms of enterprises guiding green consumption, it should be innovation in the three dimensions of technology, commerce and value, integrating value innovation and communication at the same time of business and technological innovation, rather than just staying in the innovation of marketing methods and profit models, although this is more difficult, But it can bring real business changes.

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