Twin Dragon Denim Mills is improving its sustainability platform by developing Liquid Indigo and Eco-Finish collections that save on chemicals, energy and water usage.
Created as an alternative to mercerization, Liquid Indigo is estimated to eliminate 700,000 pounds of sodium hydrosulphate, a bleaching and reducing agent used in denim production, from being dumped in the environment, according to Twin Dragon. Liquid Indigo also has better color saturation compared to powder indigo, plus increased shade consistency and colorfastness to light and home laundering.
Eco Finish is a finishing process that utilizes specialized machinery that significantly reduces water consumption by eliminating the need for a rinse and de-size step in the garment production process, resulting in 95 percent water and chemical savings.
Twin Dragon said the finish provides a cleaner, better defined and softer hand than previous mercerized raw denim and that Eco-Finish goods will eliminate 95 percent of the water and chemicals needed in processing.
Dominic Poon, CEO of Twin Dragon Marketing Inc., said, “Twin Dragon is constantly working on ways to lessen our impact on the earth, constantly analyzing what we can do better, where we can save and what caustic environmental processes we can eliminate. Development is now progressing at our Asian facilities using Eco-Finish and Liquid Indigo, replicating these initiatives we made in Mexico a year ago.”
The company added that it continues to also use Tencel denims and twills, noting new men’s Tencel blended denims. In addition, the company’s Mexican and Asian denim and twill makers will now only utilize Repreve recycled polyester, replacing any existing virgin polyester fibers in blended fabrics in all future developments.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Twin Dragons has an annual global production capacity of more than 80 million square yards, with facilities in Mexico, China, Taiwan, Pakistan and Africa.
