Here’s a staggering figure - every two years, the textile industry uses the equivalent of the water in the Mediterranean Sea to dye clothes. In other words, it takes 25 litres of water to dye a single T-shirt. Ensuring the economic sustainability of the company and its long-term financial viability are key objectives of a sustainability strategy, such as cost reduction through better environmental management, improving the corporate image or the relationship with internal stakeholders - employees - and external stakeholders - suppliers, customers, local communities. The time has come for big fashion companies to find solutions to this use of resources, and Adidas is one of the brands leading the way. The sporting goods company last year launched its DryDye technology, which uses no water at all, as well as reducing the energy and chemicals needed to dye fabrics by 50 per cent. The method was developed by the Yeh Group, a fabric supplier.
Teaming up with DryDye According to Adidas, every two years the textile industry uses the estimated amount of water from the Mediterranean Sea to dye garments. To reverse this consumption, the brand has worked on developing a technology that allows it to colour its shirts in a sustainable way. The environmental project was consolidated with the launch of DryDye, a technology that uses pressurised carbon dioxide to dye garments, saving up to 25 litres of water per shirt. In addition, the brand announced that this new process uses 50 per cent less energy and 50 per cent less chemicals, making it a fully sustainable process. The DryDye process involves compressing carbon dioxide through heat and pressure, converting the CO2 into a liquid and a gas that can penetrate fibres and disperse without the need for water or other chemical agents. Adidas worked with textile company Yeh Group to develop DryDye and together they produced 50,000 T-shirts that saved1,250,000 litres of water. In its first production using DryDye, the company launched a collection of 50,000 T-shirts last summer, which ended up saving 1.2 million litres of water. Adidas has already committed to using the Yeh Group's fabrics for other collections and products.
Another significant improvement is the brand’s commitment to use 40% cotton grown according to the Better Cotton Initiative standards (of which Adidas is a co-founder). This initiative works with farmers around the world on the implementation of standards to minimise pesticide use and water consumption. Adidas is not the only brand using this water-saving technology to help the environment, but also Levi's with its "Water Less" line, which reduced water usage for washing by 96%. This means that a pair of Water Less jeans requires only 4% more water to wash than any other pair of jeans.