A Japanese retail company reveals how it is changing the way jeans are made, writes Aznim Ruhana Md Yusup
THE sky was a gradient blue in Los Angeles. Driving on the city’s massive freeways, the pool of journalists from various Asian countries passed through urban sprawl and tall palm trees before arriving at Fast Retailing’s Jeans Innovation Centre (JIC).
Fast Retailing is the owner of Uniqlo, the famed Japanese clothing brand with some 2,000 stores worldwide. It also owns other brands, including J Brand, GU, Comptoir des Cotonniers and Theory.
The brands all have different price points, target market and design aesthetics but one thing they have in common is jeans.
This is where JIC comes in. Established in November 2016, the facility brings together denim specialists from the different brands to develop jeans using new and innovative technologies. They also work to utilise new material without affecting the consumer’s familiarity with the product.
In short, the jeans we see in the stores are the same. What’s changed – or what will change – is the way those jeans are made.
NEW TRICKS
“Jeans are the only apparel that has to look old even though it’s new,” says Masaaki Matsubara, JIC chief operating officer, via a translator.
It’s a look that’s driven by consumer tastes, he explains. Raw denim has its fans but most people want jeans that looks like it’s been worn for years, with faded indigo colouring and defined creases on the hips and knees. Holes, rips and tears are in demand as well.
These effects used to be applied manually, and indeed these techniques are still being used in many jean-making facilities around the world.
This includes workers rubbing sandpaper or other abrasive material on the jeans, using drills or special instruments to cut and fray the fabric and washing it with pumice stones or spraying it with acid and other chemicals to get a particular shade of blue.
Drawbacks include a lack of uniformity on the end result. The chemicals are potentially harmful to workers and the environment. The processes are labour-intensive and time-consuming.
Meanwhile, traditional stone washes – imagine stones and denim inside a giant washing machine and putting it in spin cycle – require a lot of water. Some styles require several wash cycles and still need a final washing to get rid of the stone residue. The water can’t be reused and pumice doesn’t last for very long.
“Jeans has a long history so these processes have become the norm,” says Matsubara. “But the effects are not exactly necessary, so we need a new approach because we have a resposibility towards the environment and ourselves to be sustainable. At the same time, we must not compromise on what the customer wants.”
DISTRESS AND DESTROY
JIC has recreated the old techniques in several new, innovative ways. But first, they need to create a template of how the jeans look.
Using an old, worn-out pair of jeans as reference, a designer uses drawing software, a graphics tablet and digital pen to recreate the look on a computer.
Each crease is digitally drawn and the indigo colour lightened layer upon layer. Holes and rips that appear after years of use by the original wearer are faithfully copied.
The design are then saved as a digital file and distributed to factories around the world.
Distressing jeans are typically done using drills and sandpaper, but JIC has automated the process with lasers. The laser machine works like a printer in the sense that it creates pattern on what used to be a blank surface. But instead of ink, it jets out concentrated energy. And instead of producing colour, the machine burns off indigo dye from the raw denim.
An invisible wide laser beam moves from left to right on the trousers, leaving wisps of smoke in its path and a noticeable before-and-after effect. Another machine puts the jeans on fire. The small, controlled flame burns off some of the denim threads with precision.
It takes about a minute for the laser to go through the entire front side of the jeans, and the machine can be arranged to become part of a fully-automated assembly line. This shortens production time significantly, although it’s not yet the end of the jean-making process.
MIST AND TRIOXYGEN GAS
Next step is washing the jeans to soften the stiff denim fabric and to stop it from shrinking. Like all washing machines, this process needs a lot of water, but JIC has developed a nano-bubble washing machine that reduce the need for water significantly.
“Nano-bubble technology turns water into moisture particles to cut down water usage by 99 per cent,” says Matsubara.
Air is taken from the atmosphere and fed into a reactor before it’s mixed with water to create moisture or wet air. This goes into a tumbler, pre-loaded with jeans. As the jeans tumble, it softens and threads that were burnt by the laser machine unravel and become frayed, completing the distressed look.
Meanwhile, JIC has developed a proprietary stone to replace traditional pumice for the washing process. The artificial eco stones can be reused over a long period of time and doesn’t break down or create residue.
But washing will cause some of the indigo dye to leach, causing unsightly stains on the jeans. This is typically washed off with water or bleach, but JIC uses ozone – the same substance that makes earth’s ozone layer – because it is a powerful oxidant.
Here, the ozone is produced synthetically and is injected into a tumbler that contains the jeans. Workers can use as much or as little of the ozone and set how long to expose the fabric to it because indigo will oxidise and fade upon contact with ozone.
A small amount of ozone for a couple of minutes is enough to remove backstains. If the design calls for a light indigo wash, a longer and more intense exposure is applied. Afterwards, the ozone is released into the atmosphere where it becomes oxygen.
While JIC has developed techniques that reduce water usage, the final piece of the puzzle is to recycle all of the water used and use it again, creating a closed loop. A new machine is being developed for this purpose and is showing promise, but it’s not yet perfect to be rolled out.
“We’re disclosing what we do here because it’s important and we hope to change the overall jean-making process,” says Matsubara. “Ultimately we want to reduce water usage to near zero. Only this can be considered true innovation.”
ALL SET TO GO
Fast Retailing brands, including Uniqlo, will be utilising the new manufacturing processes for all their jeans starting next year, even though many of the factories are already using the new machines for commercial production — we just don’t know it.
Uniqlo says it is part of its strategy not to differentiate between sustainable and non-sustainable jeans, whether through branding or prices. This contrasts with other labels that often create separate collections to highlight eco-friendly pieces over conventionally-made ones.
While Matsubara focuses on sustainable, water-saving jeans, Veronique Rotchet looks at sustainability on a larger scale. As Fast Retailing’s director of sustainability, she has set her targets to also include ethical and fair trade practices.
“Our ambition is to redefine what sustainability means in the apparel industry. We want to make sustainable choices effortless and anxiety-free, and to leverage the scale of our business to have genuine meaning and impact.
“Customers everywhere can be part of a more sustainable world, without any special effort on their part and without any compromise on quality or value,” she says.
The work at JIC is important, but the group also has other commitments. This includes only getting raw materials such as cotton and down feathers from ethical sources. Rotchet also notes that its factory monitoring programme has been improved through support of the Fair Labor Association.
Meanwhile, Fast Retailing’s senior vice president of sustainability Yukihiro Nitta says they do not suffer from waste or overproduction. The problem has been affecting the garment industry of late and could render any sustainability effort useless.
“We have our marketing research and we plan production accordingly. We have our retail strategy and we lay out the stores so that everything is within reach. We understand what the customers demand and we provide the clothes they need, so we sell everything,” he says.