In 2010 and continuing into 2011, the majority of Anvil’s private label customers made public commitments to use more sustainable fibers by a certain date and, in some cases, commitments reaching to 100% of their apparel lines. Anvil’s fiber strategy, raw materials certification and supply chain management systems are continually being enhanced to offer these brands solutions to meet their goals.

Product Life Cycle Approach Continues.

In addition to the incorporation of a larger percentage of sustainable fibers into its product offerings, Anvil’s approach to manufacturing and product life cycle management is enhancing the sustainability profile of Anvil’s entire product line – not just its Eco Collection. Every aspect of the Company – from raw materials to dyes to manufacturing practices – is being examined to determine where additional sustainability measures can be applied.

click to enlarge

In 2011, we calculated our latest GHG Product Life Cycle assessment for a new “Made in US from Imported Fabric” product line. This new line is made from US cotton, spun into yarn in the US then knit into fabric in our textile plant in Honduras and returned to the US for cutting and sewing. The product life cycle results of this new line are reflected in the chart to the left, with results varying based on short-sleeve, long-sleeve, or pocket styles.

Cotton.

The biggest challenge in 2010 for us and the apparel industry as a whole, was the impact of the widely fluctuating price of cotton and, to a lesser extent, shortages in the availability of organic cotton.  Overall, our use of organic cotton fiber increased in 2010 and continued to support increased growth for  but we experienced a reduction in total amount of recycled fiber used due to challenges with sourcing.

We’ve also shifted our focus from introducing new eco products to our Eco Collection to improving the impacts of all of our products with Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification and other internal measures. We are currently working closely with Oeko-Tex to assess our chemical management processes and make recommendations for continual improvement.

Other Fibers.

In 2010, we continued to work on the development of other fibers but did not introduce new products from those fibers for a number of reasons, including some market challenges following the economic downturn of 2009 and sourcing issues.  Our fiber strategy for 2011-12 is being developed and will be published in our next report.

Water.

For some time,, we have worked on measuring our production water and in 2010, we achieved a 10% reduction in total production water used.  But, in 2011 we were able to complete a Water Footprint study which revealed that the highest risk in our supply chain comes from the agricultural stage of cotton.  We will use this information to source cotton from areas with lower water stress and use this information to continue to develop our fiber strategy going forward.