Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. will start using a combination of water-saving and recycling technologies, as well as lasers, to create vintage-style jeans, the Nikkei Asian Review reported Aug. 20, citing Masaaki Matsubara, COO of the Fast Retailing Jeans Innovation Center in Los Angeles.
The move is expected to cut the retailer's water use by 90% to 99%, beginning in 2020, the Nikkei said. Fast Retailing, the parent company of Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo, presently relies on manual labor and excessive washing to produce distressed denim for its jeans brands.
According to the report, among the new techniques being deployed by the company at the jeans innovation center is a new "nano-bubble" technology and "eco stones" that replaces traditional washing machines tumbling with pumice stones to achieve a distressed look for jeans.
In addition, designers at the center can create a "vintage denim look" on computers and use lasers to apply these designs on the jeans, the Nikkei said.
The new procedures have not yet resulted in a price increase for customers, Matsubara told the newspaper.
Fast Retailing plans to deploy the same production techniques across its other facilities and brands, including GU, J Brand, Theory, Helmut Lang and Comptoir des Cotonniers, the report said.
The clothing company is reportedly also targeting to use 100% sustainable cotton by 2025 and slash 85% of its plastic use by 2020.
