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M O R E C H O I C E S F O R

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TA K I N G YO U R

WE CAN MAKECLOTHES CLEANEROne in every 40 hectares of cultivated land grows cotton, buttakes one-sixth of the world'sinsecticides – more than any othercrop – and produces 220 million tons of carbondioxide. The textile industry uses more water than anyother industry except agriculture. And old processescontaminate our environment with unsafe chemicals.

New farming and processing methods, along with newsustainable fibers, are now available to reduce – andeven reverse – harmful impacts. The US Group isproud to be a leader in expanding these options.

ORGANIC COTTON More than half of all clothingproduced worldwide is cotton. It’sabsorbent, durable andintrinsically soft, making it anexcellent apparel fiber. And it canbe a sustainable option.

The US Group sources organic cotton that is grownwithout harmful pesticides or genetically modifiedorganisms. This creates a healthier environment forfarmers and preserves the land.

Our organic cotton is also processed without usingharmful chemicals, so these don’t contaminate ouremployees, the planet or the consumers of our organictextiles with anything allergenic, carcinogenic or toxic.

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WATERLESSDYEINGWe’ve entered an era of increasingwater scarcity, and must find waysto clothe more people whilereducing our water use.

At the US Group, we use the Water<Less™ process,with design and process decisions made to reduce theamount of water used for finishing. The traditional stepsinvolve desizing, then stone or enzyme wash for colorloss, then bleaching and neutralizing followed by apotassium permanganate. We’re eliminating, combiningor reducing these wet-process steps and usingadvanced chemistry to ensure dye fixes to fabric betterand needs less post-indigo rinsing.

So far we’ve reduced water use by 65% compared totraditional indigo rope dyeing, saving some six liters ofwater per garment.

REPREVERECYCLED POLYThe clear plastic used for bottlescan be kept out of landfills andused instead to make clothing.The US Group is creating fabrics from recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic.

Collected PET bottles are sterilized, dried and crushedinto small chips which are heated and passed through aspinneret to form strings of yarns that go through acrimping machine to produce a fluffy, wool-like texturebefore they’re woven into polyester fabric.

Our Reprieve fabrics are part of our broad collection ofrecycled and sustainable alternatives.

SAVING WITHWATERLESS

RECIPES

YARN FROMPLASIC BOTTLES

OLD JEANS TONEW DENIM (PCW)There’s growing interest inrecycling denim garments, andthe US Group is finding ways tooptimize the processes involved.

Pre-consumer waste comes from excess materialproduced during production of yarn, fabric and textileproducts. We’re advancing into recyclingpost-consumer waste. It’s sorted by type and colorthen processed through stripping machines that breakthe fabric into small pieces before pulling them apartinto fiber. Then it’s carded several times in order toclean and mix the fibers before they are spun intoyarns. Resulting staple length is shorter so that it’sblended with virgin cotton fibers to improve yarnstrength.

This sustainable fiber produces fabric with an authenticaesthetic look.

INNOVATION FORSUSTAINABILITYThe US Group is alwaysimproving our sourcing and ourprocesses to offer more productsthat reduce harm to the environment.

And we’re constantly experimenting to create newfabric options that have a lighter planetary footprint,like denims that incorporate recycled coffee beans orfeathers and blends that use bamboo or tencel.

When your brand takes the next steps toward greatersustainability, our fabrics will look good on you andyour bottom lines.

POST-CONSUMER DENIM

RECYCLING

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