What is Cubus doing to reduce water consumption and to manage water from production

The textile industry requires a lot of water throughout the production chain. Dipankar Bose, Global Environmental Manager at Varner, explains why this is a problem and what Varner is doing to help improve processes.

“The textile industry is a major water user and must ensure the efficient use of water resources, as well as effective treatment of processed water,” explains the environmental expert.

Cubus is part of Varner and owns no factories of its own.
“We have many suppliers that use water as a resource, and with that comes the responsibility to ensure that clothing production is carried out in the most responsible way possible.”

“That’s why we must take responsibility for water usage. Factories can’t just exploit it as a free resource. If we mindlessly extract groundwater—freshwater from rivers and natural sources, use it, and discard it, we will soon run out of freshwater sources that can also be used for drinking water,” explains Dipankar.

“Clean, fresh water is not only necessary for humans but also for animals. We don’t need to use that freshwater for production purposes. Factories can recycle processed water and use it for production. It doesn’t need to be as fresh as drinking water.”

The environmental expert highlights regions where water shortages are at alarming levels. In some areas, groundwater levels have already dropped so low that there will be drought during the summer months. Agriculture will suffer, and people in certain areas will face water supply issues due to scarcity.

It is particularly important to assess the risks in water-scarce regions, such as northern India and Pakistan. In these affected areas, the entire community is impacted by water shortages, making Varner’s responsibility to promote innovative solutions crucial.

WATER TREATMENT: Wastewater is treated on-site at Varner’s partner factory, Calzificio FAP, in Casaloldo, Italy.
Photo: Ufuk Dinc, Varner Environmental Specialist, Türkiye, Europe, and Pakistan.

How Factories Reduce Water Consumption

Tracking with Water Meters

“First and foremost, we must track our water usage,” explains Dipankar.
“If we don’t, we will never understand whether we are actually reducing consumption or not.”

With local staff in the largest production markets, Varner has the opportunity to work closely with significant parts of its supply chain. Ensuring that water meters are installed in key locations is an important part of the routine.

“We have made it mandatory in our supplier manual that all Varner suppliers implement water meters so that we can track consumption.”

The specialists then map how much water Varner uses in clothing production today, why that is the case, and how much water use should, or could, be. A significant part of the challenge is that water is a cheap resource for producers and there is often a lack of technical understanding among both manufacturers and authorities in production countries.

Part of a Sustainable Coalition

“We are part of Cascale, which gives us access to the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM)—an assessment tool that standardizes how facilities measure and evaluate environmental performance year by year. The coalition is approved to carry out both off-site and on-site verifications at factories that manufacture materials or sew garments.”

“This functions as a tracking and monitoring tool,” Dipankar explains.

“Over 300 brands and retailers worldwide are part of the coalition, and through this module, we collect annual performance data on which we can base our actions. There are currently plans to collaborate with other textile producers on projects that can also help improve water use at factories.”

PARTNER FACTORY: Wastewater is treated in large pools at Jeyavishnu Clothing in Tirupur, India.
Photo: Shubhransu Singh, Varner Environmental Specialist, India.

What Happens to the Water from Production?

One issue is water usage, and another is discharge of the water.

“Some parts of the industry have room for improvement in this area. We take this very seriously because after water is used in textile production, it becomes contaminated. If it is released directly, it will harm the environment, the people living in the area, and biodiversity. The contaminated water may contain chemicals and have a completely different pH level than normal water. Our job is to ensure that the factories meet general legal requirements before discharging the water.”

“We are especially vigilant and carefully monitor this when Varner employees visit the factories, both announced and unannounced,” concludes the climate and environmental expert.