Finding a reliable textile converter is not as easy as it used to be. A dyehouse is often the missing link in otherwise strong supply chains.
Many garment manufacturers are therefore appreciative of the outstanding service and quality that they can find at AEC Textile. This Thailand-based converter is used to meeting the very high standards of the Japanese market, which is its biggest market.
The company has a capacity of 1-2 million meters per month, of which about 90% is piece dyed and the rest is yarn dyed or prints.
Better Quality Materials Reduce Potential Problems
AEC Textile sources its yarn and fabric from Thai spinners and mills located near its factory, which gives them more flexibility and shortens lead times.
They look for suppliers who are known for producing the best quality materials in order to maintain the high standards that AEC Textile’s customers require.
“We use the highest quality yarns and fabrics, made from U.S. cotton. We’ve been choosing U.S. cotton products for about five or six years. We previously had a problem with our greige products. But when we use materials made with U.S. cotton, we have much fewer problems with our customers’ quality control,” said Arnon Lertprapakorn.
“When you buy the greige materials it seems like they are all the same. It’s only when you do the dyeing or printing that you see the difference. So we want to avoid having those problems in our production.”
This enables AEC Textile to successfully pass the very strict QC inspections of Japanese brands.
Sustainable Future
The move towards greater sustainability – and in particular making the textile industry more environmentally friendly – has been going on for many years. However it has really gained momentum in the past few years as brands raise their targets – and also as new laws mandate more responsible sourcing.
“The government is pushing the industry to be more sustainable. If every company thinks in terms of how to improve then it could result in a big change for the industry – and for the country.
“When you buy the greige materials it seems like they are all the same. It’s only when you do the dyeing or printing that you see the difference.”
“I have been watching what the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol® (the Trust Protocol) has been doing and the result of their efforts is reducing the consumption of water, energy, pesticides and so forth, in regard to cotton production.
And over time the numbers are getting better and better,” said Mr. Lertprapakorn.
“This has been the global trend for many years and now it is becoming more popular in Thailand and is now part of our national policy. The companies who are using U.S. cotton and who are part of the Trust Protocol will be able to meet their sustainability goals.
“So I think there are a lot of opportunities for suppliers who are part of the Trust Protocol.”
As more brands need to support their sustainability claims and provide greater supply chain transparency, suppliers like AEC Textile are looking to help them achieve this.
“Because we are using U.S. cotton we are in a good position to present to our customers that we are buying sustainable materials and that our supply chain is transparent,” said Mr. Lertprapakorn.
Email: harry@AECtextile.co.th
Tel. +66 2 805 2020 | www.AECtextile.co.th
Certified Sustainable
The Trust Protocol is aligned with existing sustainability programs including the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. It brings quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production, and drives continuous improvement in six key sustainability metrics – land use, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency. The Trust Protocol is designed from the ground up to address the unique regulatory and larger farm growing environment in the United States.
How the Trust Protocol Works
The Protocol Consumption Management Solution (PCMS) starts at the gin when the participating producer’s cotton is ginned and each unique Permanent Bale Identification number (PBI) is attached. At this point we know the exact gin weight and can create an exact amount of Protocol Cotton Consumption Units, where one Protocol Cotton Consumption Unit is created for each kilogram of Protocol Verified Cotton. This important step provides absolute authentication of U.S. cotton origin, verifying against the USDA database.
Supply Chain Transparency
The PCMS harnesses blockchain technology through a powerful combination of the Trust Protocol platform and TextileGenesis™ system to deliver full supply chain transparency by recording and verifying the movement of U.S. cotton along the entire supply chain. This creates article-specific transparency for finished products that was not previously accessible to brands and retailers.
Trusted Third Party Certification
The Trust Protocol incorporates a comprehensive program of verification against Trust Protocol benchmarks, in the form of both second-party and independent third-party audits of grower performance through Control Union Certifications—the latter through allocated on-site visits.
Control Union Certifications has certified over 150 industry standards programs worldwide, including working as a key partner in the early development and piloting phases of Impact Claim Verification Protocol.
Learn More https://trustuscotton.org
The COTTON USA Advantage
- Family growers who are committed to working their fields sustainably and leaving them better for future generations.
- A long history of innovative harvesting and ginning technologies resulting in higher-quality cotton.
- One of the highest rates of adoption in the world for Precision Agriculture, which minimizes water and pesticide usage.
- U.S. farmers operate under voluminous, stringent, and enforceable regulations.
- A commitment to transparent partnership that is unmatched anywhere.
- One of the most comprehensive systems for monitoring and measuring all the key metrics involved in sustainability.
U.S. Cotton Facts
- 2/3 of U.S. cotton land uses only rain water
- U.S. cotton water use efficiency has improved by 79% over the past 35 years
- Cotton is carbon footprint neutral, meaning the plants remove more greenhouse gasses than production produces.
Sustainability Goals
The U.S. cotton industry is building upon the strong environmental gains already achieved over the past 35 years. The aim is to help members meet their current needs while making the world a better place for future generations.
Specific goals include:
- Reducing by 13 percent the amount of land needed to produce a pound of cotton fiber
- Reducing soil loss by 50 percent, in balance with new soil formation
- Increasing water use efficiency (more fiber per gallon) by 18 percent
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 39 percent
- Increasing soil carbon in fields by 30 percent
- Reducing energy to produce seed cotton and ginned lint by 15 percent
Learn More www.cotton.org
