NEW YORK CITY — February 8, 2021 — BOMBYX, a division of PFGHL, is proud to announce that it has completed the GOTS, GRS, and RCS certifications at its garment facility, Nanchong Ka Fung (NCKF) located in the Northeast of China’s Sichuan Province. These accreditations are in addition to the company’s existing bluesign®, IFOAM, LEED, and Think Green Initiative certifications and continue to propel BOMBYX towards achieving an organic and recycled, vertical supply chain. These acknowledgments are in addition to the previously achieved CERES organic cotton certification announced in November 2020.
Throughout the pandemic, BOMBYX has continued to demonstrate its commitment to its core mission of innovation to make enlightened, aspirational silk and to re-emerge stronger with more capabilities. The GOTS, GRS, and RCS certifications awarded signify the supplier’s progression towards completing Phase 2 of its journey to building a fully organic, owned & operated supply chain, which it plans to complete by 2023.
Founded in 2018, BOMBYX is an innovative silk supplier and textile manufacturer, creating environmentally conscious textiles through sustainable and responsible practices. The new certifications mark an important benchmark in BOMBYX’s evolution as it progresses through Phase 2 of its vertical operation journey with the successful inclusion of organic and recycled materials. The new certifications come on the coattails of its recent CERES organic certification at its mulberry farms where BOMBYX has been replacing chemical, GMO, and synthetic inputs with natural, organic substitutes by incorporating regenerative farming practices.
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification version 5.0 affirms that BOMBYX’s entire manufacturing processes, including finishing, manufacturing, trading, and washing for women’s apparel utilizes a variety of machinery for eco-functionality based on the use of 100-percent organic silk. Textile production includes E-Flow washing machines by Jeanologia which reduces water consumption in garment washing by up to 95 percent; silk is dyed and washed with 100-percent recycled water and 100-percent renewable energy, and 3,194 panels of polycrystalline silicon solar panels create clean energy for the facility’s operations. The GOTS certification is an internationally recognized organic certification that includes ecological and social criteria, demonstrating to stakeholders, partners, and consumers BOMBYX’s commitment to providing sustainable, ethical, and high-quality products.
The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certification version 4.0 verifies that women’s apparel, specifically shirts and blouses, manufactured at BOMBYX’s garment facility are composed of 20-percent post-consumer recycled fibers. The Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) certification version 2.0 further verifies categories of women’s apparel including dresses and skirts, which are comprised of 5-percent pre-consumer recycled content. RCS and GRS are international, voluntary standards that set requirements for third-party certification of recycled input and additional criteria for social and environmental processing requirements and chemical restrictions. The components for GRS and RCS are collected from certified recycled materials and demonstrate BOMBYX’s commitment to traceability as well as a circular economy by reducing textile waste and keeping the integrity of the fibers by reincorporating them into high-quality garments.
“While certifications and accreditations will never fully define or represent Bombyx’s mission toward sustainability, they represent various operational aspects and opportunities that deserve our constant attention as we move toward this goal” says Hilmond Hui, vice president of BOMBYX. “By achieving, maintaining and exceeding these respected certifications, we are providing globally recognized tools that we, and our brand partners, can use in consumer education and communications. These tools encourage more holistic understanding of the processes and the standards across our company’s value system. At Bombyx, trust and transparency sit at the core of our business and allows our aspirational silk to represent a new thinking in luxury,” Hui continued. “At Bombyx that value system takes all stakeholders — garment workers, farmers, brand partners, consumers and the land itself — into consideration, aiming to improve our positive impact through constant R&D and innovation”.
Posted February 8, 2021
Source: BOMBYX
