As part of its ongoing investment in sustainable innovation, Advance Denim brings eco-friendly manufacturing to life at its newest production facility Advance Sico in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
Completed in 2020, the plant will serve the Chinese denim manufacturer’s growing production needs in new markets, helping it serve more customers.
The basic objective of Advance Sico is the same as the company’s initial production center in Shunde, China.The manufacturer not only wanted to offer its customers the most innovative denim styles in Vietnam, but also reflected the sustainable innovations that have become the foundation of the Shunde factory.
After the Vietnam factory was built, Advance Denim’s general manager, Amy Wang, took a deep dive into the entire denim manufacturing process to see how the manufacturer could further innovate through more sustainable and environmentally friendly processes.It is this focus on sustainability that gives way to innovations such as Big Box dyeing, which saves up to 95% of the water used in traditional dyeing when using traditional liquid indigo.
Upon completion, Advance Sico became the first plant in Vietnam to use Archroma’s aniline-free indigo, which produces cleaner and safer indigo dye without the use of harmful cancer-causing chemicals.
Advance Denim then added BioBlue indigo to its range of dyes in Vietnam, creating a clean indigo that does not produce toxic waste that is harmful to the environment.BioBlue indigo also creates a safer work environment by eliminating the highly flammable and unstable chemical sodium hydrosulfite in the workplace.
As the name suggests, sodium dithionite is very high in salt, which is notoriously difficult to remove from wastewater.The powdered substance is high in sulfates and can also accumulate in wastewater, releasing harmful gases.Not only is sodium dithionite harmful to the environment, but it is a highly unstable, flammable material that is very dangerous to transport.
Advance Sico is located in the Vietnamese resort town of Nha Trang, an international tourist destination known for its beaches and scuba diving.When operating the Advance Sico factory there, manufacturers feel a responsibility to protect the natural environment and to be the cleanest, most sustainable factory.
In this spirit, Advance Denim installed an innovative reverse osmosis water purification system designed to effectively remove residual indigo and harmful impurities.This process produces water that is almost 50% cleaner than national chemical oxygen demand (COD) standards.It also enables the facility to recycle nearly 40 percent of the water used in its manufacturing process.
As all denim manufacturers must be aware, it’s not just the craftsmanship that drives sustainability, it’s the raw materials themselves.The Advance Sico factory uses sustainable materials, including fine linen and fine-spun recycled cotton from the company’s Greenlet sustainable collection in Vietnam.
“We also work closely with global sustainability innovators like Lenzing to incorporate their wide range of round and zero carbon fibers into many of our styles,” Wang said.“We are proud not only to partner with some of the world’s most sustainable innovators, but we believe it is critical to have certifications to support our claims. These certifications are very important to our customer base as Advance Sico is doing everything possible To be the most sustainable denim manufacturer in Vietnam.”
Advance Sico is certified to the Organic Content Standard (OCS), Global Recycling Standard (GRS), Recycling Claims Standard (RCS) and Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
Advance Denim will continue to question the old ways of producing denim and innovate new ways of sustainable manufacturing.
“We are proud of Big Box denim and BioBlue indigo and how these innovations create a cleaner, safer and more sustainable indigo dyeing process without sacrificing the shade and wash of traditional indigo,” Wang said.“We are excited to bring these sustainable innovations to Advance Sico in Vietnam to be closer to our expanding customer base in the region and to better serve the needs of our global customers.”