BROADENING THE HORIZON
WeAr interviewed Omer Ahmed and Murtaza Ahmed who run Artistic Milliners on recycling and circularity, the Metaverse and digitizing design.
Do you have any new sustainability innovations you would like to share?
We’re on the verge of launching our brand-new fibre recycling facility Circular Park, powered by clean energy and capable of outputting 500,000 kg of textile waste back into the loop thanks to leading-edge Laroche equipment. This also enables precision control of Post-Industrial fibres. Our water recycling efforts have borne fruit as we currently recycle around 85% of water input, on the way to achieving 92% in the next few years. We’ve continued offering brand partners an expansive range of conscious approaches, replacing traditional chemical and water-intensive processes with more modern eco approaches like Ozone "nishing and our Crystal Clear 3.0 Dyeing methods. We also foster circularity partnerships with expert organizations such as C2C and Ellen MacArthur Foundation to help reduce any reliance on virgin resources.
How do you incorporate blockchain technology in denim?
Knowing your cotton begins quite literally from the ground up, starting with "bre: We’re working with retraced to digitalize the entire cotton value chain in Pakistan and help cotton farmers earn fair livelihoods. Retraced has built a traceability solution that tracks and follows the natural !ow of materials in real-time, working with key stakeholders in the value chain; the farmer, the ginner, us, and ultimately our customers are all equipped to digitally discern between the di#erent cotton shipments and assess the quality. Brands can, in turn, use the data to evaluate the apparel’s production standards and communicate the source of the clothing to their consumers. The increased connectivity and digitalization will help deliver authentic data throughout the supply chain.
Fabrics in the Metaverse - is this feasible?
While the fabric is traditionally reliant on feel, it’s easy to see why so many clothing brands are jumping into the metaverse. It lets them exercise their creativity while !exing their marketing muscle in these very !uid ways. The metaverse right now is the web 2.0 of yesteryear: This ever-changing collection of concepts makes for a cool way to take advantage of another key aspect of fabric: the look. It also enables brands to break out of their collaborative comfort zone, work with digital artists, and craft these ethereal designs.
In terms of Artistic Milliners - what are your latest projects?
Our current latest project is ArtMill. This strategic expansion into the piece-dye space, aims to ride the boom in demand for multi-dimensional, multipurpose wear, whether it’s in the casual, comfort, active or workwear space. Our goal with ArtMill is to make it the most technologically advanced processing mill in the world with uncompromising innovation at the heart of it. In phase 1, ArtMill is set up to produce 2 million meters of fabric per month. We’re also on the verge of launching a big expansion of our Garments unit. The new facility is the organic evolution of the garments division and will add 30% production capacity while generating 3,500 jobs within the AM Ecosystem. Of course, in keeping with our ethos for green innovation, its fully automated and USGBC LEED Platinum certified.
Denim is clearly your focus, but do you expand to other product categories?
Denim is at the heart of our business. Still, our now is very much about using our expansive ecosystem to build a new, exciting future: One that lets us continue eco innovating in the denim and woven spaces while leveraging our ever-expanding near-shoring capacity at our Los Angeles facility SFI and other upcoming locations. That enables us to be at the vanguard of design and "nishes. From athleisure to workwear to casuals, we’re broadening our horizons to see how we can combine our appetites for creative expansion with our know-how and operational expertise.
What is your opinion on the future of denim design?
The future of denim design is digital, and with our team at SFI in particular, we’re in a great position to take advantage of this development. With 3D design and modeling via Browzwear, we like to say we can almost design at the speed of imagination. It lets our design teams !ex their creative muscles in entirely new ways, leverage trends faster, and take bigger swings. It also enables us to scale our digital product library and utilize market data for more accurate trendcasting, giving us a leg up on the design aspect. This will help tackle issues related to excess production and wastages, serving our goal of agile operational production models and has obvious benefits in terms of conscious production.