Cotton Inc. Bows 'Sustainability' DVD

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 7/7/2008 12:00:00 AM

New York —

Terming ongoing greening efforts a "revolution," cotton growers association Cotton Incorporated has produced a new DVD, "Sustainability: The Textile Revolution."

"Textile companies around the globe are adopting innovative 'green' fabric processing techniques to bring cotton's environmental footprint inline with sustainability goals in the world market," the organization said.

Berrye Worsham, president and ceo of Cotton Inc, said, "We work hand in hand within the industry to get these new ideas into mills because we believe it's our responsibility to increase the demand for cotton in a more sustainable manner."

In the DVD, Dr. Sam Winchester, a chemical engineer and professor emeritus at North Carolina State University and a Cotton Inc. consultant, said sustainability "is not a fad or something that will go away. It's here with us and it has great, great impact on the future of the planet."

The DVD covers technology developments and mill case studies from China, India, and Latin America, as well as the United States and Europe.

The DVD show new finishing innovations, including enzyme finishing used in place of high-alkaline chemicals in scouring; foam finishing of fabrics that reduces water use and chemical discharge; digital printing of fabric that uses no harsh solvents and curtails waste of fabric and ink; a low-salt reactive dyeing process that gives a twentyfold reduction in salt use; low-liquor dyeing that uses air rather than water to transport fabric; bleaching techniques that dramatically reduce water use; dyeing and finishing done in the same stage in the same bath, ozone finishing and more.

The DVD can be viewed online at cottoninc.com/Sustainable-Cotton-Manufacturing.