WATER
Water
Making clothing requires water, both in the production of raw materials (especially cotton) and during the manufacturing process. For many apparel companies, this may take place in water-stressed regions.
That’s why HBI is committed to optimizing water use throughout our value chain. One benefit of owning the majority of our manufacturing capacity is that we’re much better positioned than most to take direct action on water conservation. Plus, most of our cotton supply is U.S.-grown, largely on farms in non-water-stressed parts of the southeast United States.
Please see our Transparency section for our progress on our water efficiency efforts.
Identifying the interconnection between water and energy use at our facilities has also been a key driver of our successful energy efficiency efforts. Water needs to be heated at multiple steps in the textile manufacturing process, which requires a significant amount of energy. By reducing the amount of water required in these processes, we’ve also reduced energy needs, providing both environmental and cost benefits for the business.
We’ve also continued to monitor water withdrawals from local water basins serving our textile facilities, and then tracked this data against industry tools. This helped us affirm that our biggest textile facilities (the largest consumers of water) are not located in water-stressed regions.
Looking beyond these efforts, we know we must do more. Going forward, our focus will be on reducing water use by an additional 25% by 2030 (from a 2019 baseline) through efforts such as increased water recycling and continuing to optimize our fabric-dying processes. We have made great progress already, reducing our water use intensity by 19%.
For more information on our water efforts, please see our latest CDP Corporate Disclosure Report, which can be found on our policies and disclosure reports page.
Identifying the interconnection between water and energy use at our facilities has also been a key driver of our successful energy efficiency efforts. Water needs to be heated at multiple steps in the textile manufacturing process, which requires a significant amount of energy. By reducing the amount of water required in these processes, we’ve also reduced energy needs, providing both environmental and cost benefits for the business.
We’ve also continued to monitor water withdrawals from local water basins serving our textile facilities, and then tracked this data against industry tools. This helped us affirm that our HBI-owned textile facilities (the largest consumers of water) are not located in water-stressed regions.
Looking beyond these efforts, we know we must do more. Going forward, our focus will be on reducing water use by an additional 25% by 2030 (from a 2019 baseline) through efforts such as increased water recycling and continuing to optimize our fabric-dying processes. We have made great progress already, reducing our water use intensity by 19%.
For more information on our water efforts, please see our latest CDP Corporate Disclosure Report, which can be found on our policies and disclosure reports page.