adidas Group representatives at Sustainable Textiles Conference in Barcelona

Last week, the world’s largest and most important sustainable textiles conference took place in Barcelona, Spain, organised by Textile Exchange.

The adidas Group and its environmental work were on top of the conference’s agenda, with David Asquith, Head of Operations Apparel and Accessories at the adidas Group, as the keynote speaker. Here is a quick summary of the Sustainable Textile Conference.

The adidas Group has been a member of the non-profit organisation Textile Exchange (formerly Organic Exchange) for some years and has supported and contributed to the work of this organisation in many ways. Although the original area of the organisation is organic cotton, it has now reshaped its structure and does include the entire textile process. There have been many innovations in the area of fibres and fabrics, one of the latest being “biosynthetics”, renewable fibres made from waste material of corn processing.

The participants of the annual conference come from all walks of textile life: farmers, spinners, tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers, chemicals suppliers, brands – anyone who has anything to do with textiles. They all come together to learn, inform, inspire and be inspired about the latest technologies, guidelines, laws, innovations and much more.

“DryDye”, a new dyeing method which does not use any water

David’s keynote presentation to an audience of around 200 people was a great success. He talked about the need for consumer connection, business integration of all environmental efforts and our value chain approach within the adidas Group’s Environmental Strategy. He also showcased some business cases like our colour reduction target and energy audits, and he introduced “DryDye”, a new and revolutionary dyeing method which does not use any water, creates a lot less CO2 then conventional dyeing techniques and uses less chemicals. The adidas Group supports the commercialisation of this method.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition

In another session, I gave an update on the work of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), an industry-wide group of leading apparel and footwear brands, retailers, manufacturers, non-governmental organisations, academic experts and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency working on reducing the environmental and social impacts of apparel and footwear products around the world. The adidas Group joined this coalition one year ago, in November 2010.

Influencing the sustainable textile agenda inside your company

And last but not least, Philipp Meister, Manager Sustainable Materials and Innovation, together with three representatives from other companies held a workshop on “Influencing the sustainable textile agenda inside your company”. The main topics within this workshop pertained to colour reduction, material consolidation, the Better Cotton Initiative, and recycled polyester.

It was really great that the adidas Group and its environmental work could be represented on such a high and extended level, especially with David holding the most important presentation of the event. Here is what he thought about it:

“For me it was enriching to sit amongst what are our competitors in the sporting goods and apparel industry, and share a common goal. It allowed us also to dispel any thoughts that as a big corporate business we do not sweat the detail…it gave a real chance to show our true commitment to a cause and a much deeper approach than many had imagined.

The many compliments toward our brand and committed end-to-end strategy captured the mood perfectly before my departure, and this meant that my flight back was much more relaxed than my flight in…”

And Philipp adds:

“It was really interesting to see that TE gives the platform also to smaller organisations and brands. For example, we heard first hand from organic cotton farmers about their interesting initiatives, but also from fabric experts on how they see the future of sustainable materials.”

All in all a very successful, inspiring few days in Barcelona!