The Clothing Industry Training Authority (CITA) has set up a consortium to promote environmental-friendly manufacturing and sustainability in the fashion industry in Hong Kong.

Launched on Earth Day yesterday, the Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium (SFBC) consists of 12 Hong Kong-based companies from the textile and apparel sector.

"The SFBC stresses on minimizing the impact from the fashion industry on the environment," SFBC chairman Woo Pat Nie who is also a member of the Textile and Clothing Training Board under the Vocational Training Council .

The mainland, where the majority of Hong Kong-based manufacturing companies are located, accounts for about 30 percent of the total volume of garment production in the world, Woo said.

The SFBC will encourage the adoption of sustainable practices across the industry.

Such practices include increasing the use of sustainable raw materials, reducing energy consumption and the impact of waste and chemicals.

Woo said the CITA would organize seminars and workshops for the SFBC to share their findings with the rest of the industry.

The SFBC has been discussing with Reducing the Impact of Textiles on the Environment, a textile industry group supported by Marks & Spencer in the United Kingdom, about a conference on global sustainable textile to be held in Hong Kong early next year.

The consortium will participate in the Low Carbon Manufacturing Programme organized by World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong which aims at building a common standard for the calculation of carbon emission for textile factories.

The SFBC targets to obtain the world's first cotton waste recycling certification from the Control Unit, a Holland organization, within this year.

"The textile and apparel industry is not a sunset industry. We are the first movers behind sustainability and low-impact manufacturers in the sector," Woo said.

(HK Edition 04/23/2008 page1)