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On the global frontiers of sustainable innovation with Hayleys Fabric

13 Oct 2021

One of the greatest global challenges is to integrate environmental sustainability with economic growth. At the heart of that challenge is “sustainable consumption and production”, or the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, which has pushed manufacturers across the globe to innovate and create circular economies. It is the era of sustainability champions, who strive to redefine manufacturing and production to create rare opportunities. Taking up this challenge head-on is a young Sri Lankan gaining global attention for her ground-breaking work in sustainable textile manufacturing; Hayleys Fabric Manager of Sustainability and Innovations Leonie Vaas. Last June, she made history for Sri Lanka when she was selected from thousands across the globe to be designated as one out of just 10 SDG Pioneers by the UN Global Compact for 2021. A chemical engineer by profession, Vaas is an auditor for Environment Management Systems and is a certified professional, sustainable manager. With an extensive range of experience in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and ensuring carbon neutrality, life cycle perspective of products, plant and process improvements with sustainable technologies, and textile chemical management, Vaas has paved the path for local sustainability champions to be recognised on a global platform.   As the first and only Sri Lankan to be recognised as an SDG Pioneer, Vaas primarily focuses on five key areas at Hayleys Fabric; including driving efforts in reducing GHG emissions, water preservation, improving efficiency with sustainable solutions for effluent treatment plants, building and training sustainability teams, as well as developing and applying new processes for “better and greener” products.   This accolade recognised her successful work on environmentally friendly natural dyes from waste materials. Given that switching from synthetic to natural dyes can potentially reduce GHG emissions by as much as 36%, Vaas’s work is highlighted as worthy of replication globally. Local innovation, global impact  “On the whole, synthetic dyes are easier to work with – allowing for a brighter and more diverse spectrum of colours to be applied to any textile with ease. That is why they are the most preferred option for any commercial-scale textile production. However, in the long term, natural dyes may hold the key to more sustainable, circular fashion supply chains,” Vaas explained. Globally, the natural dyes market is currently projected to hit $ 5 billion by 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 11% up to 2024. With the rising tide of environmental consciousness, customers are starting to gravitate towards more sustainable purchases. “Through trial and error, we developed a natural substitute using natural and biodegradable ingredients. Our next goal is to scale up production to meet the fast-growing demand for sustainable textiles,” Vaas shared. Sustainable business starts with a sustainable culture  “We have a strong leadership commitment that all employees evenly match, and ultimately, that culture and enthusiasm to take the lead on sustainability are what drives our success. Sustainability at its core is driven by the higher management and we were able to come this far with the support and guidance of our CEO and Managing Director Rohan Goonetilleke. Because of this unique dynamic, we were able to rapidly commercialise our sustainable innovations, which gave me a chance to showcase what Hayleys and Sri Lanka have to offer the world. When you build the right culture, everything else flows from there,” Vaas added. A team committed to sustainable innovation  Vaas finds the company’s future focus on reengineering its value chain truly inspirational. “Our team is looking at substituting production supplies with recycled polyester, organic cotton, and other biodegradable materials, as well as augmenting production capabilities to create textiles from yarn comprised of recycled plastic.” The innovation team recently launched an app to enable end-to-end traceability for its recycled PET fabrics, mostly supplied locally to Sri Lanka’s largest apparel manufacturers. This will allow local producers and global retailers to tag individual pieces of clothing with a QR code, which customers can scan to learn exactly how many discarded PET bottles were used to create the item and exactly which part of Sri Lanka the bottles were collected from. Hayleys Fabric also connects employees with key sustainability issues through culture building, webinars, and training and awareness building workshops.


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