Kontoor Brands expands water-saving Indigood program

US fashion company Kontoor Brands has announced the expansion of its Indigood program, an initiative that targets water savings during fabric construction.

The company first debuted its Indigood program in 2019 with the launch of a foam-dyed denim collection by its Wrangler brand. It has now expanded the program “to include any water savings technology in apparel fabric production that uses at least 90 percent less water than conventional fabric production”.

Wrangler announced last year it had saved more than 7 billion liters of water in the finishing phase of denim manufacturing thanks to the Indigood program, exceeding its 2020 goal of saving 5.5 billion liters. The US denim label also announced a new goal to reduce its water usage by 50 percent by 2030.

Lee, another brand in Kontoor’s portfolio, has saved more than 1 billion liters through the programme. The brand announced last year a target to increase Indigood-dyed products every year through 2025.

“Water is one of our most vital and precious natural resources, and as such, we are focused on advancing the sustainable and equitable management of water resources,” said Jeff Frye, Kontoor Brand’s vice president of product development and direct procurement, in a release.

Frye continued: “By expanding the Indigood program to include additional water-saving technologies, we’re giving our suppliers the opportunity to select the water savings technologies that work best for their production, while also meeting the growing consumer demand for products that not only look good, but also minimize the impact on the planet.”

Image: Wrangler, Facebook