ESG #Stocks - #Sustainability and Social Outreach a Priority for (OTCQB: $GFTX) (NASDAQ: $CTAS) (NYSE: $ARMK) (NASDAQ: $SGC)
Point Roberts WA, Delta BC – September 24, 2019 - Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resources covering sports and retail stocks releases a sector snapshot reporting on the growing focus towards community & social outreach as well as sustainable practices in the textile and apparel industries.
In recent news, “Sustainability has gained a lot of traction in the textile industry over the last few years. Purchase decisions are no longer only made on the basis of fashion and comfort. Consumers are increasingly demanding more eco-friendly textiles.”
The article continued, “In contrast to paper, aluminum or steel, there is no credible recycling concept for the billions of tonnes of fast fashion items sold every year, mainly from non-biodegradable fibres. Each year about 60 million tonnes of new fibres are used to make garments, and no plausible concept exists on what to do with them when they are no longer needed. As a result, three-quarters of these products are disposed of in landfills or incineration plants. The textile industry is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions due to its production technologies and transportation. Studies calculating the sector’s CO2 emissions were first published only recently.”
With this growing attention towards sustainable solutions in the broader textile market, there is a need to create and implement meaningful solutions across a range of market segments. Global Fiber Technologies Inc. (OTCQB:GFTX) and Regent Apparel are announcing a collaboration to create a solution in the uniform apparel and napery segments.
Global Fiber Technologies, Inc. is a publicly traded fiber technology company founded in 2016 and headquartered in New Jersey that is dedicated to helping the world by utilizing their portfolio of technologies to create a cleaner, greener and more efficient world for the textile industry.
“This collaboration will utilize the strengths of each company to tailor a sustainability solution that meets the needs in the hospitality industry,” said Paul Serbiak, CEO of GFTX, who went on to say, “We look forward to collaborating to build products that deliver on the vision of a more sustainable future for this important market segment.”
Family-owned Regent Apparel has almost a century of experience manufacturing uniforms for businesses throughout the country. Their uniform take-back program will divert thousands of pounds of textiles from landfills and redirect them to GFTX to utilize their innovative technology to provide truly circular solutions to its customers.
“As a manufacturer of tangible products, we believe we have a responsibility to identify sustainable end-of-lifecycle product management tools,” said Alexis Miller Lettis, Regent’s VP & Director of Sustainability. “Our customers are increasingly looking for ways to operate more sustainably and we are very excited about GFTX’s ability to up-cycle our products.”
Chris Giordano, Global’s President and Chairman said: “We are extremely enthusiastic and eager to start working with a group like Regent. Regent has been a leader in the uniform space for over 95 years and has a reputation for producing very high-quality merchandise. They are also a very forward-thinking company dedicated to the idea of helping make the earth a better place by offering sustainable products to the corporate uniform market. Our proprietary technology will be important to the collaboration between us and to the industry in the years to come. We very much look forward to working with the Regent team to create co-branded sustainable products together.”
Earlier in the year, Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) announced its collaboration with JW Marriott, part of Marriott International, Inc., which debut a new collection of wardrobe essentials across 51 of the brand's hotels worldwide. In addition to the new collection launch, JW Marriott properties in the US participated in a unique garment-recycling program managed by Cintas that responsibly reuses the brand's retired uniform line.
"We are excited about the new wardrobe launch as it will give JW Marriott associates the opportunity to mix and match garments that best fit their job function, personality and style preferences," said Mitzi Gaskins, Vice President and Global Brand Leader of JW Marriott. "JW Marriott's participation in Cintas' garment-recycling program aligns perfectly with our commitment to sustainable practices and will help support key eco-friendly brand-wide initiatives."
Approximately 10,000 associates were outfitted in the new collection, which includes Chef Works and Design Collective by Cintas garments. Prior to the debut, Cintas worked closely with JW Marriott to solicit hotel associate feedback regarding wardrobe design concepts to ensure that each piece was both functional and fashionable. Drawing inspiration from JW Marriott's brand color palette, the collection incorporated neutral greys with accents of a warm blush present throughout a variety of silhouettes including soft blouses, tailored suits and sophisticated printed dresses.
"Prints have been the cornerstone of many apparel collections over the last 18 months and continue to take center stage," said Jeff Marino, Creative Director at Cintas. "The floral print design that we created for the crepe dress and blouse is inspired by vintage Japanese watercolor paintings. It is the perfect representation of high fashion meets brand vision."
JW Marriott's garment recycling program, which took place through May 31, 2019 was available across 26 JW Marriott hotels based in the US. Through this sustainable program, hotels collected the retired uniforms in the boxes used to ship the new garments, each capable of holding 25-30 pounds of textiles. Once received by Cintas, the uniform provider worked with Leigh Fibers, Inc., a leader in managing textile waste, to shred garments and repurpose the remaining fibers for future use.
"Because JW Marriott associates provided insightful feedback about fit and functionality during the design process, they really helped us curate the best collection possible for the brand," said Jenn Pampenella, Global Account Manager, Cintas Corporation. "Cintas and Marriott also worked closely to bring our shared commitment to sustainability to the program. Our garment recycling program will allow JW Marriott's US hotels to divert textile waste from our nation's already strained landfills."
Not only are companies looking at recycling programs and sustainability but also at their social and community responsibilities. Recently, more than 12,000 Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) team members across the globe volunteered their time at 350 service projects in 15 countries during Aramark’s annual day of community service, Aramark Building Community Day (ABC Day). This year, Aramark joined the National Football League’s (NFL) Huddle for 100, a volunteer campaign that encourages fans to partner with them, the players and teams to donate 100 minutes of time, to help shape local communities for the next 100 years, with the goal of reaching 100 million minutes.
Aramark volunteers logged more than two million minutes in the day - lending their time, energy and expertise at service projects in the United States, Canada, China, Korea, Mexico, Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom to bring health and wellness education and workforce readiness programs to community members.
“One day each year, we come together for our annual global day of service,” said Lynn B. McKee, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Aramark. “Aramark Building Community Day demonstrates our year round commitment to enriching and nourishing lives. Today, thousands of our employees will volunteer together to build healthier communities and achieve our goal of creating long-lasting impact.”
“Aramark is the exclusive NFL retail merchandiser for special events and is the food, beverage, retail and facilities partner of 14 NFL teams, so we are especially excited this year to team up in Huddle for 100,” said Carl Mittleman, President of Aramark’s Sports & Entertainment business. “Today alone, our team members expect to volunteer millions of minutes in their local communities and we will continue to log our time throughout the rest of the year.”
Superior Group of Companies® (NASDAQ: SGC), who recently announced Michael Attinella, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer will be presenting at the Fall Investor Summit at the JW Marriott Essex House, New York on September 16, is one other company working towards better manufacturing practices.
Superior Group of Companies and its family of brands have had a long-standing commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, which since 2011 includes partnering with the Salvadoran Foundation for Health and Human Development (FUSAL). Their program, “Libras de Amor” (translated: “Pounds of Love”), is focused on reducing malnutrition in children, and creating a self-sustaining environment for families in high-risk communities in El Salvador.
In the past 15 years, SGC has also donated over 1.5 million articles of clothing to various foundations and missions all over the world, including FUSAL, Provision International, and other organizations. In 2017 alone, working alongside various organizations, Superior Group of Companies and its divisions have donated over 60,350 garments to areas throughout Central America and the Caribbean. A core portion of those garments are used in sewing training centers, which take the adult-sized garments and cut them down into clothing for school age children.
In response to the devastation in Houston caused by Hurricane Harvey, SGC opened their distribution center in Eudora, AR as a clothing donation drop-off site. In total, the Company successfully donated over 25,000 garments to the victims of the hurricane in Houston and its surrounding areas.
Not only is sustainability gaining traction in North America, but also globally as one article stated. “Sustainability has also slowly begun to gain in importance in other parts of the world, especially Asia. This is important because 2018 was a milestone. For the first time in history, more than half of apparel and footwear sales were generated outside of Europe and North America. If we want to make the textile industry a greener one, we need to support sustainability, especially in emerging markets across Asia-Pacific, Latin America and other regions.”
As we see this initiative grow globally, companies working on new garment recycling programs and textile reusability may have the chance to gain consumer favoritism as awareness and the demand for “green clothing” increases.
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