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EU Environment & Climate recently published an infographic stating that it takes 2700 liters of water to produce one T-shirt, ‘the same as a person drinks in two and a half years’. T Jornal is starting a new series of news stories exploring this issue and Portugal’s efforts to optimize consumption at different stages of the production cycle.
Fafedry is the first to share its achievements: ‘not all stages of production consume the same amount,’ says Rui Pedro Freitas, marketing coordinator. ‘For example, cultivation consumes around 1,750 liters, representing 65% of the total. In the dyeing and finishing activities the average consumption seems to be 400 liters (equivalent to 15%) and for the washing and finishing process the consumption is approximately 150 litres (6%). Generalising, of course.
Vera Sampaio, SGI coordinator at Fafedry, also contributed to the data collection: ‘We can currently say that our laundry consumes around 1.58 litres of water per T-shirt and the dyeing plant 8.33 litres/kg,’ she says.
To prove the low consumption, the Fafe company compares it with the targets set by Inditex for suppliers for 2027: ‘the group wants water consumption in laundry processes to be 48 liters/kg and in dyeing 68 liters/kg. These are the figures that allow suppliers to achieve a level of excellence. However, our consumption is only 13 per cent and 49 per cent respectively of what Inditex has set for itself in three years’ time.’
Rui Pedro Freitas added: ‘We have already exceeded the demanding levels, as a result of heavy investment in top-of-the-range equipment. Perhaps it’s because of these results that we were recently listed as one of the companies with the best environmental practices and we’re taking part in a study to establish appropriate consumption levels for the entire supply chain,’ he concludes.