C&A has introduced the first Cradle to Cradle Certified Platinum denim fabric.
“Beluga Denim” for C&A, created in partnership with Rajby Textiles Limited and Eco Intelligent Growth (EIG), is the first fabric worldwide to be certified at the Platinum level by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, a global non-profit dedicated to transforming the safety, health and sustainability of products through the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard.
“C&A is proud to be the first fashion brand to achieve the highest certification level within the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program, but as with our other circular innovations, we aim to share our knowledge open source to create a pathway toward circularity for the industry,” C&A chief sustainability officer Jeffrey Hogue, said.
To achieve the highest levels of Cradle to Cradle Certified requirements, Rajby, its supplier, Archroma, and C&A teamed up to research and identify the most suitable materials and chemicals for the fabric. The resulting denim is optimized for material health–including the use of Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)-certified organic cotton fiber–made with 100 percent rapidly renewable resources.
The fully recyclable denim is also produced using a closed-loop process water system and is 100 percent carbon neutral in the manufacturing stage. EIG collaborated with MBDC on the material health assessment component of the certification.
The supply chain partnership between C&A and Rajby, according to Dr. Christina Raab, Institute vice president of strategy and development, is a “groundbreaking demonstration of how the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard can be used to power innovations that ultimately have the potential to transform the fashion industry.”
C&A said the achievement represents another key step in its journey toward circular fashion. In 2017 the company became the first retailer to launch Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold T-shirts and in 2018 the company launched another global innovation with the first Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold jeans. C&A has nearly 1,900 fashion-related stores in 21 countries and around 51,000 employees.
