Over the past few years, thanks to structural measures and investments such as the supply of electricity entirely from renewable sources, Cifra, the well-known warp knit manufacturing company based in Milan, has significantly reduced its CO2 emissions and still forecasts a further and growing reduction.

Cifra's strong commitment towards a sustainable production process is guaranteed by STeP by OEKO-TEX certification. The strict standard aims to verify and assess ethics, protection and the health of both environment and workers as well as product safety in all areas of the company.

Thanks to Cifra’s Warp Knit Seamless technology, operating directly from the yarn to the final garment, manufacturing waste is reduced by 30% compared to traditional cut and sewn methods.

Still on the process front, on demand manufacturing plays a key role to reduce stocks and in case goods to be disposed of.

Cifra’s knitting system allows to rapidly shift to different shapes and patterns during the production process and customers can adjust order request to sales in real time

Eco sustainable

As for the products, more than 30% of Cifra’s production currently comes from eco-sustainable, natural and recycled yarns and demand is further increasing.

At the next international trade fair, Milano Unica (1-2 February, Milan), Cifra will present an exclusive preview of an ‘Ecosustainable’ collection carrying the hallmark of sustainability. The collection includes garments made from recycled yarns such as Econyl, Renycle , Qnova, as well as Merino wool and Tencel.

EcolyL yarn is a 100% regenerated nylon 6 yarn from pre and post-consumer waste otherwise polluting the Earth, like fishing nets, fabric scraps, carpet flooring and industrial plastic rescued from all over the world.

Renycle by RadiciGroup is obtained from nylon 6 pre-consumer recycling, a high-value material with excellent strength, dyeability, softness and versatility. Through virtuous recovery and recycling processes, nylon waste is transformed into polymers and then into high-performance yarn without needing virgin material. First in-house readings have shown that, compared to the virgin polymer of PA6, Renycle allows savings of more than 87% in energy and 90% in water, though obtaining the same performance in terms of quality. It is also said to reduce CO2 emissions by almost 90%.

Q-Nova by Fulgar on the other hand, is a recycled and eco-sustainable pre-consumer nylon 6.6 fibre, exclusively obtained from regenerated raw materials, consisting of waste materials from the company's main production cycle.

Finally, Tencel Lyocell is a fibre of vegetable origin stemming from eucalyptus and beech pulp and is said to be sustainable at every stage of production.

www.wks-cifra.com