How to maximize the environmental and social impact of the textile industry by building a decentralized supply chain? - Challenge @ E2Expo
Relevant regions : Bangladesh | China | India | Pakistan |
Centralized production has been a hallmark of industrial progress worldwide since 1950. It had its benefits of course - higher production efficiency, economies of scale, higher investments, and better control of personnel training and quality control to name some. At the same time, such centralized production of goods including textiles has resulted in job losses for many developed countries, exploitation of environment and labour in poorer countries, significant migration of rural poor to urban regions, and also a lot of waste along the entire supply chain owing to its complex nature and sophistication. As the world tries to reconfigure itself post COVID, a higher reliance on local supplies including reinvigorating rural economies is topping the agenda of countries rich and poor. How can the textile industry, one of the largest industries in the world with significant centralized production, go local and decentralized?
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Dec-2020
Decentralized production of textile and apparel can bring significant social benefits, and if designed well, also reduce the overall ecological footprint of the industry.
But large, centralized production has evolved such that with today's advances on other technologies it can provide both economies of scale and scope.
For decentralized production to become a dominant paradigm in the textile and apparel sector, it needs to be competitive with centralized production on economics and related competitive factors.
What practices and designs operations and logistics can enable distributed textile production to reach parity with centralized production?
Stakeholders : City and local administration , Logistics professionals , NGOs , Textile fiber cultivation professional ,
This is a case study of inventory management practices in a textile factory. The optimal utilization of resources was considered through aggregate planning. A suitable inventory model and an effective resource utilization is expected to bring down the costs incurred thus increasing the supply chain surplus making it more efficient.The end results are concerning inventory valuation, future inventory price forecast and optimal inventory levels calculations.
The following are the activities that were carried out, study of the industrial operations and processes. Evaluation and analysis of current inventory model, forecasting the price of raw materials for the next cycle period, process timing and utilisation evaluation, developing an inventory model based upon requirements.
Reverse Logistics is an extreme example of managing decentralized procurement. If return logistics is optimized, some of those concepts can be useful for optimizing logistics costs for highly distributed production too
Here is an example of a reverse logistics program adopted by a US carpet manufacturer. The framework is used to analyze the current state of carpet recycling in the USA, and PCC recycling is shown to be a typical material recovery network. Therefore, because PCC recycling requires a high volume of carpet to be collected and transportation costs to be minimized for it to be economical, a well-organized reverse logistics network is critical.
The company promotes a decentralized textile value chain generating livelihoods of rural women through Solar Charkha. It purchases yarn from a network of women using solar chakras – domestic spinning wheels used primarily for spinning cotton into yarn. The yarn is then woven into fabric by Greenwear’s ecosystem of 400 weavers.
It develops a marketplace for eco-friendly & decentralised textile value chain which generates livelihoods of rural women through Solar Charkha.
Dipdii Textiles - crafted out of local textile traditions - are designed for a decentralized production in the villages of Bangladesh where in general the quality of life and space is both humane and free.
Dipdii Textiles, instead of expending resources, are grafted with time, skills and creativity. The women artisans produce garments via decentralised production. They do so in their villages and the goods are sold online
INTURN, a startup at the intersection of digital supply chain, sustainability and inventory management that helps enterprises, or brand manufacturers buy and sell excess inventory. The solution allows organizations to identify slow moving inventory that’s just taking up space, determine the most efficient and profitable way to sell that inventory and centralize brand data.
The INTURN solution automatically pulls the data from an ERP and other systems of record, then normalizes the inventory in real-time, allows brands to allocate goods into subsections and to offer them to buyers in private meetings. Buyers have access to a similar set of tools.
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Dec-2020
Textiles of a region provide a medium to showcase man’s journey in life, events and occasions. Many of the material, techniques and forms used from ancient times remain in use even today, both as an essential aspect of production in many regions of the world and as ingredients in textile arts.
Textile historians have noted some features seen across tribal art forms and crafts. Each tribal region has unique designs and forms that reflect their lifestyles, religious beliefs and observances. And also, each tribal group emphasizes some form of creative expression, which gives it a distinctive identity. But in recent times, the demand for these products are very low owing to the wide range of alternatives available at a low cost. So, it is important that these people are properly trained on key business skills in order to scale and grow their art forms more efficiently. What are the key areas in which the rural and tribal people need to be trained in order make their production process more efficient?
Stakeholders : International policy makers , NGOs , Textile education professionals ,
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is set to open the first-of-its-kind silk training cum production centre in Arunachal Pradesh's far-flung tribal village of Chullyu.
The training cum production centre is the first of its kind facility in Arunachal Pradesh and a big boost to weaving activities in the entire region. Training of artisans and supporting the production of eri silk, which is indigenous to the northeastern states, will create local employment and sustainable development in the region. KVIC will also create an exclusive page on its online portal to market their products.
The development assumes significance as the tribal population in Arunachal Pradesh, men and women alike, traditionally wear eri silk and khadi cotton clothes, which carry a deep significance to their egalitarian tribal society. However, the people of the state have to buy silk from outside markets including those in Assam.
KVIC has also planned design intervention by engaging professional design institutes like NIFT Shillong, NID Jorhat and even local designers in Arunachal to develop new designs to suit the modern taste of tribal youths.
This paper suggests some effective strategies to tackle some major issues faced by people involved in this sericulture for their living. Some of the key strategies by the article are human resource development, promotion of community organizations, sustainability of the project, development of linkages, media support and use of information technology, empowerment of farm women, cluster approach, appropriate interventions,production of good quality silk,Balance the aspirations of farmers and weavers, quality based pricing.
This article shows how Sustainable sericulture ventures can promote job-led economic growth in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development.
This study was undertaken to identify the issues concerning the sector's growth and recognize the unique features of the handloom sector.
Similarly, HandloomMark, Geographical Indication (GI) Patenting, E-Marketing, Technology interventions in designing, dyeing, colouring etc adopted by these agencies will help the sector to learn and upscale such efforts.
To achieve sustainability of the sector, it is essential to introduce new models for supply of raw material;at production level interventions are required in bringing new designs, patterns, colour dying techniques; information technology need to be introduced for designs, accounting and marketing.
Effective training to the weavers in use of new methods of marketing handloom products should be imparted. This may involve greater use of local haat bazaar, use of mobile sales points, greater interactions between the buyers and sellers, increased use of web marketing etc. All these are new areas and region specific suitable models would need to be evolved.
Following are some observations about the marketing systems in handloom sectors:
Lack of availability of market information
Lack of awareness among customers about the product features
Insufficient promotion and advertisement of handloom products
Lack of quality standardization
Women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are contributing significantly towards the economic development of the nation through employment and income generation, poverty eradication, and by bringing entrepreneurial diversity in the economic activities. The handloom industry offers an appropriate setting to analyse the significance of the rural women-owned micro-enterprises towards local economic development. With archaic hand-operated looms, the production mechanism takes place mostly in the rural areas. The present article analyses the factors that affect tribal women to own a handloom micro-enterprise.
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Dec-2020
The culture of textile fabrication is weaved into every community in the world. A decentralized supply chain provides a great opportunity to fuse traditional rural practices with industry practices, in terms design, manufacturing and sustainability. The demand has intensified for traditional textile and clothing producers especially small and remote countries. The overall social & environmental impact of the fashion industry could be reduced if large industries try to adopt sustainable practices from handloom and handicraft. This E2 Challenge debate from E2 Expo will discuss how local and rural production of textiles and apparel can effectively integrate sustainable practices in that region.
Stakeholders : City and local administration , Entrepreneurs , Financial investors , NGOs , Textile education professionals , Textile industry training professionals ,
The Samatao textiles project is indeed very interesting - they have tested with and worked on 10 local natural fibers: lotus, pineapple, banana, water lily, romchek, kapok, papyrus, palm, silk, coconut, water hyacinth, and rice leaves and manufactures natural scarves, vegan leather, natural/antimicrobial fabrics and more. Impressive - http://www.e2expo.com/celebrate/17
ReplyWhen waste collection was neglected by authorities in the mid-1990s in Arabsalim, a woman -Zeinab Mokalled- set up a rubbish collection team by calling on the women of the village to help going door-to-door. The women set up a whole recycling scheme with their own resources (using for instance their own back gardens as the storage area for recyclable waste). In 1998, the women formalised their efforts by establishing an NGO: Nidaa Al Ard. The organisation is thriving, and schoolchildren, students and activists who come to learn from it frequently visit the project. Nearby villages, such as Kaffaremen or Jaarjoua, are adopting similar schemes. These are only a few examples that highlight the role of women empowerment in the development of social innovations in marginalised rural areas, but if you scroll in the database you will find women involved in most of the examples. If you are aware of any interesting initiative led by rural women or dedicated to the empowerment of women anywhere
ReplyNOVICA - Novica - the impact marketplace for artisans that features the works of more than 20,000 artisans for sale, improving the economic prospects of artists in some of the world’s most remote areas. Showcasing their products on NOVICA, offers artisans fair prices, no binding contracts and the freedom to make a success of their craft by building a sustainable business.
ReplyThis looks interesting...especially if it can give the local and rural artisans freedom and flexibility to do it their way
ReplyRESHAM SUTRA innovates renewable energy based Rural Livelihood enabling machines. They help rural Silk yarn producers and fabric weavers, to install higher productivity machines. This increases their income and reduces physical and mental stress.
ReplyFive | Six, a social enterprise textile company that looks to enhance education through the traditional woven-cloth heritage of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The brand produces home goods and bags that are inspired by contemporary style. The company was started to preserve an ancient artistic practice, to make goods in a mindful way that supports the artisans and their communities. Through the partnership, Five | Six is creating an artisan-to-consumer business model that helps you feel comfortable about what you are purchasing.
Replyhttps://www.fiveandsixproject.org/natural-dye-project - Thanks for digging this up. The Five/Six project is indeed quite inspiring, trying to preserve the artistic traditions of West Africa sustainably by translating them into fashion and apparel. I especially liked their Natural Dye project in which they are getting the rural population of Ivory Coast to relearn the art they were masters of in the past ( https://www.fiveandsixproject.org/natural-dye-project ). In a world where natural dyes cou
ReplyWhat a wonderful leveraging of talent and geographical assets, the Natural Dye project (indigo grows best in zones 9 and warmer zones). It will be fantastic if organizations such as WEF or WWF are able to prepare a database of such regions that are suited for crops that could fetch a good price in the market so many hundreds of projects similar to Five/Six can be attempted for different crops in different regions.
ReplyWhile not directly related to textile fiber crops, this report from MIT shows how determining and growing the right kind of crops in specific desert and arid regions can significantly increase the overall sustainability and even profitability for the farmers - one of the pictures that shows corn grown in Malawi with and without fertilizers is particularly striking -http://12.000.scripts.mit.edu/mission2014/solutions/desert-agriculture-and-agroforestry
Awra Amba is a thriving, gender-equal democracy and a hugely successful social enterprise. over 40 years ago, in a poor, rural part of Northern Ethiopia, a brave young farmer called Zumra decided to create a new society from scratch. Many people thought he was mad. His wife left him. His family disowned him and accused him of being mentally ill. He was imprisoned for months and people tried to kill him. But he persevered, and along with a small group of like-minded people, he formed a tiny village called Awra Amba in 1972. The community endured many difficulties over several decades, including armed attacks, being forced to flee and move hundreds of miles away – coming back after several years to find that much of their land had been stolen, followed by years of hardship and near starvation. In an attempt to generate a sustainable stream of income, several members of the community learned how to weave. They started off by building one traditional weaving machine, which they used to mak
ReplyThe Toda tribe is the most ancient and unusual tribe of Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu. They speak their own language, have their own secretive customs and regulations. Also the Toda community is well-known for its embroidery. Women embroider only red and black threads in graphic designs on a white background, giving it a rich effect. Using their traditional talent in exclusive hand embroidery on mainstream products such as cushions and bed spreads, the women have found a means to enhance their self-worth and independence within the constraints of their daily routine.Shalom is a for-profit enterprise which enables women from the Toda community to strive for increased financial freedom.
ReplyThis Toda thing seems like fairly popular, so much that Wikipedia has a separate entry for Toda embroidery - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_Embroidery
ReplyIt is a pity that there are only a few thousand Todas living. I wonder if other tribes in the Nilgris (Badagas, Irulas, Kotas and Kurumbas) have such promising skills??
ReplyDipdii Textile project is designed for a decentralized production in the villages of Bangladesh where in general the quality of life and space is both humane and free. Economic growth is usually linked to an increasing exploitation of resources. Dipdii Textiles follows a different path. Instead of expending resources, they are grafted with time, skills and creativity.
This project is a Bangladeshi-German cooperation between crafts(wo)men and designers together with a Bangladeshi NGO for village development. It proves the possibility of an alternative "made in Bangladesh" production: participative, sustainable, decentralized, based on the local textile traditions, with every piece being unique and with the purpose to improve the quality of life.
Shalom self-help group was started in 2005 to enable women, who have the full-time responsibility of running a household, earn an income.
The objective was to enable these women to strive for some degree of financial freedom to enhance their self-worth and independence within the constraints of their daily routine. The group started its life with just a few sewing machines in a small room. Training women to gain basic skills in hand and machine sewing was one of the first missions of the group. Women from the Toda community began joining the group which sparked the idea of using their traditional talent in exclusive hand embroidery on mainstream products such as cushions and bed spreads. The exquisite signature embroidery in black and red on bags, bedspreads and cushions has caught the imagination of the local people and tourists and a niche market has been developed.
Today, Shalom has turned into a social for-profit enterprise which enables women from the Toda community to strive for increased financial freedom
The idea for Indosole was conceived on a surf trip to Bali, Indonesia in 2004. A couple of young Californians were struck by the environmental issues faced by Indonesians, and inspired by an unusual pair of sandals they found there. By combining these two things, they have created a unique solution to the problem of pollution in Indonesia in the form of a product that was both fashionable and functional. Repurposing? is an art of transformation. This art of repurposing has been learnt from local Balinese crafts people, the wise and resourceful artisans who taught that waste could be reimagined, transformed into something purposeful. The company have saved thousands of tires from overflowing and overcrowded Indonesian landfills. This means a lower production of tire-derived fuel on the island, less landfills; and also, more shoes, more ideas, and an altogether healthier way of living
Five | Six, a social enterprise textile company that looks to enhance education through the traditional woven-cloth heritage of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The brand produces home goods and bags that are inspired by contemporary style. The company was started to preserve an ancient artistic practice, to make goods in a mindful way that supports the artisans and their communities. Through the partnership, Five | Six is creating an artisan-to-consumer business model that helps you feel comfortable about what you are purchasing.
The Five/Six project is trying to preserve the artistic traditions of West Africa sustainably by translating them into fashion and apparel.For example, their Natural Dye project is trying to get the rural population of Ivory Coast to relearn the art they were masters of in the past
The Samatao textiles project is started with a mission to empower vulnerable women and their families in Cambodia by responsibly producing eco-fabrics from vegetable waste. Women artisans upcycle this organic waste by spinning and weaving it by hand according to traditional methods from the Khmer region of Cambodia. In the process, they create unique lotus flower fabric that have been awarded the UNESCO Prize for handicraft excellence, and have recently attracted the growing interest of international ethical fashion designers in the high-luxury market. The idea of producing fabric from lotus was an inspiration from Burmese monks who made their robes from lotus fibers worn.
The Samatao textiles project have tested with and worked on 10 local natural fibers: lotus, pineapple, banana, water lily, romchek, kapok, papyrus, palm, silk, coconut, water hyacinth, and rice leaves and manufactures natural scarves, vegan leather, natural/antimicrobial fabrics and more.
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Samatao textiles project is on a mission to empower vulnerable women and their families in Cambodia by responsibly producing eco-fabrics from vegetable waste. Women artisans upcycle this organic waste by spinning and weaving it by hand according to traditional methods from the Khmer region of Cambodia. In the process, they create unique textiles that have been awarded the UNESCO Prize for handicraft excellence, and have recently attracted the growing interest of international ethical fashion designers in the high-luxury market.
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