EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
Lenzing Group in Austria is a pioneer in sustainable fibers, leading the way toward circular practices while producing high-quality fabrics and making lives comfortable, beautiful and responsible.
About Chez Laurence:
Designer Laurence Carr meets manufacturers and brands who are employing circular, regenerative, and sustainable practices. See how they're seeking to change the end-of-life concept with eco-friendly techniques.
EarthX
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EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
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Lenzing Group in Austria is a pioneer in sustainable fibers, leading the way toward circular practices while producing high-quality fabrics and making lives comfortable, beautiful and responsible.
About Chez Laurence:
Designer Laurence Carr meets manufacturers and brands who are employing circular, regenerative, and sustainable practices. See how they're seeking to change the end-of-life concept with eco-friendly techniques.
EarthX
Love Our Planet.
The Official Network of Earth Day.
About Us:
At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.
EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
Follow Us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthxmedia/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxmedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EarthXMedia/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@earthxmedia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EarthXMedia
How to watch:
United States:
- Spectrum
- AT&T U-verse (1267)
- DIRECTV (267)
- Philo
- FuboTV
- Plex
- Fire TV
#EarthDay #Environment #Sustainability #Ecofriendly #Conservation #EarthX
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00🎵
00:29The Lansing Group is an international group with its headquarters in Lansing, Austria.
00:34It is a true pioneer in the sustainable fibres industry, leading the charge toward truly
00:39circular practices, while producing high-quality fabrics with a wide range of end-users that
00:46make consumers' lives more comfortable, beautiful and responsible.
00:50With their hallmark fabrics, they have used innovative new approaches to produce materials
00:56that have an incredibly low environmental impact, while constantly seeking out new ways
01:02to move the industry as a whole closer to circularity.
01:05Let's meet Trisha Carey.
01:07Hi Trisha!
01:08Hi Laurence!
01:09How are you?
01:10I'm great, thank you!
01:13Thank you for being with us.
01:14It's wonderful to be here and the work that you do in educating and spreading information
01:20around what is happening with circularity is amazing, so thank you for having me.
01:24Wonderful to have you.
01:26Would you please introduce yourself briefly?
01:28My name is Trisha Carey and I am Director of Global Business Development for Apparel
01:33at Lansing Fibres and I am based in New York City and have worked with man-made cellulosic
01:40fibres for more than 20 years.
01:42What inspired you to get into the textile industry initially?
01:46Well growing up, I was the youngest of three girls and I used to get hand-me-downs all
01:52the time that never quite fit me right and my mother would let nothing go to waste and
01:57so I started sewing and really took up an interest in textiles.
02:02And then over the years, it was more understanding around textiles and the art and craft that
02:08went into weaving and knitting and especially also on the printing and design side, learning
02:15that textiles are really the foundation for any garment and starting with the right ingredients
02:20is so important.
02:22That's what got me started in textiles and then as I went into college, I went to Marywood
02:28University as well as FIT and there I took several courses on textile to understand the
02:34construction.
02:36I started working in the textile industry while I was at FIT and really enjoyed the
02:41people that were a part of the textile industry.
02:44My first job after FIT was in the textile industry and I've remained ever since.
02:50And how does that differ from what drives you now?
02:54Definitely what drives me now has evolved because in the mid-1990s, there really wasn't
03:00much of an interest around sustainability and how to lower impacts for the textiles
03:06and the garments that we buy.
03:09And over the years, the questions continue to evolve.
03:12In the very beginning when I started in 1998 with marketing of Tencel Liacell, no one even
03:19really asked where it was coming from.
03:22No one was questioning raw materials, production process, end of life of the garment.
03:29And now it's become so much more transparent.
03:33The complexity of the questions continues to grow every year.
03:37And so it shifted from that art and craft of textiles, which is still very much there,
03:44but now we've added on layers around lowering environmental impacts, what is the social
03:50impacts too of raw materials, as well as innovation and technology.
03:55I really see that over the past several years, all of this has merged together.
04:01Tell me more about Lansing's commitment to sustainability.
04:05For Lansing, environmentally responsible sourcing of raw materials and production has always
04:12been core to what we do and being positioned in the middle of Europe in a beautiful tourist
04:19region near the outer sea lake.
04:23This has been really paramount to everything for Lansing.
04:27Over the years, it's really been around improving on the environmental impact and being able
04:33to measure more.
04:36This was also inspired by many of the questions that we get from our direct customers, which
04:41are yarn spinners, as well as through retailers and brands.
04:45So for Lansing, we've always been very concerned about our environmental impact.
04:51Lansing is a member of the Sustainable Furnishing Council, and we meet the criteria of the FSC scorecard.
04:58So what circular practices are you most proud to have adopted at Lansing?
05:04At Lansing, I like to refer to it that we have small circles and big circles.
05:10In a small circle way, we can look at the fact that our production process of our tensile
05:14lyocell fiber is closed loop.
05:17So we reuse the solvents at a rate of over 99.5%.
05:23This is a huge environmental savings, and this is truly a part of the innovation of
05:28lyocell technology.
05:31The efficiencies that we have in the production process of tensile lyocell bring circularity
05:36right into how we produce the fiber.
05:39We can then look at circularity with the fact that we start with our renewable raw
05:44material from trees.
05:46So coming from nature, we also can go back into nature because our fibers are biodegradable
05:53and compostable.
05:55That's another circle that we offer.
05:58And then the latest technology that we introduced in 2017 is our Refibra technology.
06:05This is where we upcycle cotton waste in order to make a new tensile lyocell fiber.
06:12We mix upcycled cotton waste with wood pulp, and then we add a solvent to the pulp.
06:19So it becomes sort of a honey type consistency, which then we extrude through spinnerets.
06:25And then we have a new fiber, which is still soft, strong, but even more sustainable because
06:31of circularity that is a part of the raw material.
06:35So we address circularity right through from production, raw material, and even in new
06:41innovations.
06:43What is Ecovero Viscose?
06:46Lensing Ecovero Viscose is our traceable viscose.
06:50What we do is when we have the wood pulp, we add a solvent.
06:55In that solvent stage, we actually add a fiber identification.
07:00Then we extrude the fiber.
07:02We are then able to track that fiber, whether it's at yarn, fabric, or garment stages.
07:09We use this fiber identification with our retailer and brand partners, but then they
07:14can utilize our branding with any of the fabrics.
07:18And they have the assurance that we are using responsible production processes and raw material.
07:25What is Tensile Modal?
07:27Our Tensile Modal fibers come from our integrated site at our headquarters in Lensing, Austria.
07:35Tensile Modal primarily comes from beech trees.
07:38It is also processed in a similar way where we have wood pulp, solvent, and then the fiber.
07:44It is used in a variety of different applications, and it also is under our e-branding system
07:50for fabric certifications and for licensing.
07:55Let's talk about Tensile, which is Lensing's flagship brand for textiles.
08:00And how is it used for a variety of highly specialized applications and the benefits
08:05of Tensile's fibers?
08:08Tensile Lyocell first came into the market in 1992.
08:12During that time, there was a lot of innovation that needed to happen in the finishing process.
08:17Since that time, we have a variety of end-use applications.
08:21In textiles, it's used in everything from denim to knits, wovens.
08:25You can find it also in shoes, like in Allbirds.
08:29And then we have also uses in non-wovens, so facial wipes, cleaning wipes.
08:36Even in packaging, we find Tensile Lyocell.
08:39So there's a variety of different end-use applications for Tensile Lyocell.
08:44What's the Lensing approach to waste management and designing waste out of your processes?
08:49We look at really the three R's, reduce, reuse, recycle.
08:55This is important within all of our businesses.
08:57We utilize as much as possible our trees that we purchase, so we do not have any of our
09:03own plantations.
09:05But for the trees, we have what we call a biorefinery process, where we utilize all
09:11of the tree.
09:13We utilize the cellulose in order to make pulp.
09:16Then we also have the byproducts, which are utilized in other products like xylose, xylitol,
09:21which is a wood sugar, acetic acid, furfural.
09:25These are all byproducts from the pulping process.
09:29And then we also utilize the tree that is burnt in order to have fuel for the plant.
09:35So from a renewable energy standpoint, we are able to then bring that into our whole
09:41process within biorefinery.
09:43Our fibers are also biodegradable and compostable.
09:47These are certifications that we have, biodegradable in marine as well as in soil.
09:53And also the compostability, which in the past several years has been more at the attention
09:59of the consumer.
10:00And how does Lensing measure its impact?
10:03Do you have any statistics you can share about the measurable effects of your eco-friendly
10:08policies?
10:10Lensing can measure its impacts through an MSI called the Higg Index.
10:15It was established by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
10:18This is very common in the apparel and textile industry.
10:22On the Higg Index, anyone, retailer, brand, supply chain partner, anyone can go onto the
10:29Higg Index and look at the scoring of tensile lyocell versus generic lyocell.
10:36And here you can see that the environmental impacts according to the scorecard of the
10:40Higg Index is 50% less.
10:43So half of what you have from generic lyocell.
10:48This is one way of measuring the impact of our fibers.
10:51You can also look at how we measure the production process and the closed loop circularity that
10:57we have with our solvent.
10:59That's a rate of 99.5%.
11:02Additionally, there are measurements around our carbon footprint and our initiatives around
11:07reducing carbon.
11:09And that is measured through science-based targets.
11:12In 2019, Lensing had approved science-based targets.
11:18This is an incredible initiative to really drive industries across all different categories
11:24forward as we look at climate reduction.
11:27Can you tell us how you are reducing consumer waste?
11:31Globally, there's more than 50 million tons of textile and apparel waste that is discarded
11:37every year.
11:38There's about 16.9 million tons of waste in the United States alone.
11:45Lensing looks at ways that we can support initiatives around reducing that consumer
11:50waste through programs like we have with our tensile lyocell with ReFibra technology.
11:56Here we work with brand partners from around the world in order to work with collectors
12:02and sorters and processors to bring back the waste and utilize it to make new fibers.
12:09ReFibra technology now uses a mix of 30% post-industrial and post-consumer waste, mixing that with
12:16our wood pulp in order to make a new fiber.
12:20What further circular practices are you hoping to include in the future?
12:25We really look at ways we can reduce our carbon footprint through climate action.
12:31That is key for lensing overall.
12:34Also, I think this is really an initiative that we have to address as an industry together.
12:40We also are looking at circularity and the collaborations that need to happen around
12:45circularity.
12:46This is essential.
12:48We have to view ourselves no longer as a supply chain selling to the next partner, but really
12:54looking at it as a supply network.
12:57We have to change.
12:58There is no longer the need to continue to develop new raw materials when we have so
13:04much already in circulation.
13:07In many cases, garments don't even get to the consumer to purchase.
13:12There's so much waste involved through our whole process.
13:15At Lensing, we looked at ways that we can support our partners to reduce this waste.
13:21We also look at ways around digitalization within the supply chain.
13:26Some of the concerns that I have in the future are around processing this waste, what can
13:32be scaled properly.
13:35Also, looking at the greenwashing that happens in our industry.
13:39I think these are some of the major concerns that we need to address and we need to have
13:44a common language as we discuss some of these challenges together as an industry.
13:51What textiles are being made specifically for the interiors industry?
13:55Our full portfolio of fibers can be used in the home market.
14:00Primarily, we see Tencel Liacell being used.
14:04And Tencel is used in applications from towels to bedding to rugs, upholstery, even filled
14:11products.
14:13With this wide range of end-use applications, you can find Tencel Liacell in many of your
14:19favorite retailers and brands.
14:21In the home market, they are also seeking products that have a lower environmental footprint
14:27and still have the aesthetics that consumers are seeking.
14:31Right now, with everything we're going through, being at home for a longer period of time,
14:35there's much more interest from the consumer around having proper home products that express
14:40their lifestyle and make it easy.
14:42You can find out more information about our products at Tencel.com.
14:47You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and if you'd like to learn more about our
14:53sustainability initiatives, you can find that at Lensing.com.
14:57So what trends do you foresee in the industry at large as we move into the future?
15:03The textile industry is definitely moving forward with utilizing more innovations, digitalization.
15:12I think this time has been a global experiment for us on ways that we still stay connected
15:18and develop products.
15:20Overall, the apparel industry is over $400 billion industry in the United States.
15:27With this massive size of the industry, we really need to look at ways that we can change.
15:33Transparency is definitely one way.
15:37Consumers are asking more questions about their products, who is making them, where
15:41are they being made.
15:44Digitalization continues everywhere from e-commerce to even knowing more about where the products
15:51are coming from and tracing it through.
15:54And also you see that there's a connection of values.
15:58The values range from social values to the values of different companies.
16:03And now we see that the consumer wants to connect those values in making their own purchases.
16:09What worries me now about what we see happening in the industry is related to three areas.
16:14The first is around education.
16:17I think the industry as well as consumers need to have a greater education around their
16:21products.
16:23We need to also have commitments.
16:26This is commitments through every player within our structure of textiles and apparel, especially
16:33on the brand level, having these commitments from brands in order to make that change.
16:39And finally, I think we need to have more legislation around what is happening with
16:43textiles and apparel, especially regarding the waste.
16:48If we can educate, have the commitments and look at legislation, I think we can definitely
16:53use 2020 and the whole decade of action to really implement the changes that are needed.
17:01How do you wish this company to be remembered?
17:05The Lenzing legacy is one about responsible production as well as social concern.
17:12For Lenzing, being at the core of everything we do is lowering our environmental impacts.
17:20I think the legacy for Lenzing will also always be around driving innovation and being a leader
17:26within the industry.
17:29Thank you, Tricia.
17:30This has been a great pleasure to learn about Tencel and Lenzing Fibers and to have you
17:37in this interview.
17:40Lenzing demonstrates the power of commitment to circularity in the textile industry with
17:45stunning benchmarks such as reusing 99.9% of its solvents, zero tree waste via bio-refinery
17:54efforts, energy self-sufficient facilities and upcycling 30% post-industrial and post-consumer
18:02waste thanks to their innovative Refibra technology.
18:07Imagine a world where the 50 million tons of textile and apparel waste can live again
18:13through progressive technologies like Lenzing's Refibra.
18:17How many trees might we be able to plant in the place of all that waste?
18:21The fact that the Tencel Fiber Lyocell produces 50% less environmental impact than generic
18:28Lyocell is proof positive that if more companies in the textile and fiber industries embraced
18:35circular strategies with even half the dedication that Lenzing shows, the earth could be a much
18:42healthier place.