The Kingpins24 Earth Day event included many sustainability-focused panels such as a discussion featuring (clockwise from top left): Vivian Wang, Kingpins managing director; Andrew Olah, Kingpins founder; and Jean Hegedus, sustainability director at The Lycra Company.
TRADE SHOWS
Kingpins Announces Kingpins24 Flash Australia With a Commitment to Eco Goals
Intent on expanding its reach to all regions of the globe, denim-industry event producer Kingpins announced its first Kingpins24 Flash Australia edition, which will be hosted June 23–24 to celebrate the Australian corner of the denim industry and its supply chain. Key touchpoints of the event will be how Australia’s position in the Asia-Pacific region ties in with influences from Asia.
The announcement was made following another successful edition of Kingpins24, which was hosted April 20–22, with the final day of the event coinciding with Earth Day. This event’s programming served an ecologically sound movement.
“We were happy to release [our ‘2021 Sustainability Report’] in conjunction with Earth Day, and it focuses on our 2025 goals,” said Kevin Reardon, vice president of merchandising and product design at North Carolina’s Cone Denim, regarding a recently released Elevate Textiles report. “It gives you an update as to where we are with that, and we’re proud to say that we are well on our way to meet or exceed the goals that we set forth for 2025.”
During a question-and-answer session with Andrew Olah, Kingpins founder, and Vivian Wang, the brand’s managing director, The Lycra Company Sustainability Director Jean Hegedus unveiled the Wilmington, Del., company’s new offering. Hegedus introduced the brand’s first performance fibers made from 100 percent textile waste as part of the company’s efforts to increase circularity. These new CoolMax and ThermoLite EcoMade Fibers yield the same performance as virgin polyester.
“Looking at this technology, at the chip production, using textile waste versus polyester chips from virgin, what we see is that there is more than a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions,” Hegedus said. “The energy is lower. It’s about 40 percent of the cumulative energy if you were using virgin and about a 10 percent reduction in water usage.”
For Olah, the steps toward sustainability illustrated throughout the event’s program were extremely promising.
“We are making incredible progress in the quality of the stuff that is being produced,” Olah said. “I am really proud of that, and I am really proud of our industry for all the amazing work that is being done on the environment with one rollout after another.”
