Grand launching of DENISOL®

PURE INDIGO 30 liquid byArchroma for the denim communityArchroma, a global leader in color andspecialty chemicals, commenced pro-duction of Aniline-Free Indigo – Denisol®

Pure Indigo 30 liq. at its Jamshoro plant.Later in the evening, highlights andsalient features of Aniline-free indigowere rolled-out to the Denim communityat PAF Museum Convention Center onFebruary 20th, 2019. The event wasattended by more than 1,000 guestsincluding some of the leaders in denimindustry.

The event started with the welcomeMemento to the Chief Guest, HisExcellency Thomas Kolly, Ambassador ofSwitzerland and Mr. Michel Zumstein,President, Commercial Region – Asia,Archroma.

Mr. Mujtaba Rahim in his openingspeech said, “What a wonderful evening

started with shining stars of denimcommunity. Our Ambassador, HisExcellency Thomas Kolly, a true strongsupporter of Pakistan, Entrepreneurs,owners of the industry who are keepingthe flag of Pakistan high in the denimworld, it is a pleasure and honor for us, avery warm welcome to all. It is somethingreally great not only for Arcrhoma butdenim community, your presence reallymeans a lot to us.”

He added, “I would also like to thank,Managers and Technicians - the backboneof the industry, representatives of brandsand retailers, delegation of WWF, membersof press, directors of Swiss BusinessCouncil, Mr. Michel Zumstein, President,Commercial Region – Asia, Paul Cowel andmy colleagues and above all the heroes ofthis evening – the project team.”

He further expressed, “Your presenceconfirms that you care about thesustainability of the denim industry. Todayis such an historic day; we have formallyinaugurated the world’s first and uniqueproduction facility to manufacture cleanestand the purest indigo to produce AnilineFree Denim. It is indeed a source of pridenot only for Archroma but also forPakistan; I am so sure that you all must beproud of this game-changing innovationwhich will provide denim industry the greatleap forward.”

He emphasized, “I take thisopportunity to pay gratitude to all of ourcustomers in showing trust and confidenceby supporting local manufacturing of liquidindigo and taking full advantage of Swissinvestment in Pakistan. I am sure you mustbe very happy and highly satisfied withyour decision of partnering with Archroma

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because when in recent month the worldhas seen severe shortages in supply ofindigo and the situation for the denimmanufacturers was high desperate.Archroma came to the rescue of theindustry by maintaining uninterruptedsupply from Jamshoro to ensure the lifelineof the industry. It is in such a difficult timeand testing time I must say one can easilygauge the depth of the trust andpartnership, it is so gratifying for us.Without the support and encouragementof our partners, we would have notexpanded and doubled our productioncapacity in Jamshoro.”

Mr. Michel Zumstein, President,Commercial Region – Asia, Archroma said,“As you may know Archroma is only fiveyears old. Five years ago we started thisventure based on the heritage fromcompanies like Clariant, Hoechst, Sandoz,and BASF. More than twenty-five yearsago in 1992, a group of scientists issuedthe first world scientist warning tohumanity. Now, twenty-five years latermost people around the world startedrealizing the seriousness of this threat. Thefashion industry in which we all work isacknowledged as the second mostpolluting industry in the world. With thiscontext of environmental threats on air

and water, one of the ambitions ofArchroma which drives us foremost is tocontinuously challenge we believe that wecan make our industry sustainable. This iswhat we are doing with your help step bystep. In 2013, we started the first ZeroDischarge Facility at Jamshoro. InNovember 2014, we launched ourEarthcolors® collections, it is a coloringsystem which is based on non-edibleagricultural or herbal industries waste suchas leaves or nutshells. In 2015, welaunched Smartrepel, the fluorine-freewater protection solution. In the same year,our ONEWAY Sustainability calculator wasselected by Bluesign as the engine behind

its new bluexpert tool. In 2015, Patagoniabecame the first brand using ArchromaAdvanced Denim Technology, aninnovative dye process that colors it withsulfur dyestuffs that bond more easily.These results in much shorter productionlines that use 84% less water, 30% lessenergy and emit 25% less CO2 comparedto conventional denim dyeing processes. In2018-19, we broke new grounds with ourAniline Free Indigo showing ourcommitment to keep the industrysustainable.”

Mr. Paul Cowell, Head of BrandMarketing, Archroma explained thetechnical aspects of Aniline Free Denim in

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detail. He said, “Archroma’s Denisol® PureIndigo 30 liquid dye was first launched inMay 2018 as a non-toxic way to producethe traditional, iconic indigo blue thatconsumers associate with denim and jeans.Denim is the ace textile export specialty ofPakistan. Indigo, the blue dye for Denim isproduced using Aniline. Scientific testinghas shown that two-thirds of aniline wasteends up as wastewater discharge on anannual basis.”

He added, “Scientific testing hasshown that aniline impurities are toxic tohumans and can cause skin allergies,damage to major organs and geneticdefects, as well as being linked to cancer.Aniline is also toxic to aquatic life, which isan issue as two-thirds of the 400 metrictons of aniline waste on an annual basisends up in the environment as wastewaterdischarge.”

He further explained, “Duringproduction, some of the Aniline stayslocked into the indigo pigment and isdifficult to wash off the fabric. Theremainder of the aniline impurity,

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approximately 300 metric tons annually, isdischarged during dyeing. This can be anissue as aniline is toxic to aquatic life. Inaddition, exposure levels to factoryworkers can be high. As a result of itstoxicity (more hazardous thanalkylphenols), it is now starting to featureon the restricted substance lists (RSL) ofsome major clothing brands and retailers.Archroma worked with R&D experts toformulate the aniline-free alternative calledDenisol Pure Indigo 30 dye.”

Answering to a very importantquestion from the guest regarding costdifference between conventional indigoand Denisol Pure Indigo 30, he said, “Theanalyzed cost difference is very minimalbetween 2 to 5 cents per meter and insome cases, it is cheaper. Whereas, theusage of Denisol Pure Indigo 30 willdefinitely boost the export of the companydue to an overwhelmingly positiveresponse at the International level.Compared with conventional indigodyeing, an optimized process with DenisolIndigo 30 can offer up to 60 percent lesssodium hydrosulfite and up to 50 percentless sodium hydroxide.”

According to Ms. Shahana Kaubab,Communications and Human Resource,Archroma Pakistan Pvt. Ltd. “On thisoccasion, I would like to inform you that thismorning Archroma took a revolutionary stepforward towards sustainability once gain.Our state-of-the-art production facility ofPURE INDIGO 30 liquid was inaugurated toproduce DENISOL® PURE INDIGO 30liquid for Aniline Free Denim. Our newspecialty has open doors for denim brandsglobally and locally.”

Archroma presented appreciationmementos to its valued customers on theirsuccessful partnership in denim specialities.Mr. Michel Zumstein, President,Commercial Region – Asia, Archromaalong with His Excellency Thomas Kolly,Ambassador of Switzerland presentedcertificates to their valued customersnamely, Artistic Milliners, Classic DenimMills, Crescent Bahuman, DenimInternational, Diamond Fabrics Limited bySapphire, Indigo Textile, Kassim Textile,Mekotex, Rajwani Denim, Rantex Denim,Al Ameen Denim, Neela Denim, SiddiqsonsLtd., SM Denim, Soorty Denim, UGMDenim, US Denim, ZK Industries andMaster Textiles.�

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“Archroma has given denimindustry a new life, thedenim is reborn,” saysMujtaba Rahim.

“The Aniline coming from Indigo is not safe for the people wearing; it is alsovery harmful to the workers handling the production, stitching the garments,effluent discharge into waterways, rivers, seas etc. In short, Aniline is highlydangerous to the entire supply chain of the denim industry. I have a seriousconcern for the denim industry which is also very close to my heart. We startedinnovation process on the very fast track thanks to the project team within spamof two years from the dream of Aniline free indigo and start of R&D activities tothe first production at our Jamshoro plant is a great historic achievement.”

“Our plant in Jamshoro carries to unique distinctions, one it is the only plantof dyes and chemicals world which is based on Zero Liquid Discharge whichmeans not a single drop of water is waster or thrown outside the factory. Thesecond great distinction we recently achieved is the production of pure liquidindigo. The denim industry is thriving and prospering in Pakistan and around theworld with the introduction of DENISOL Indigo Pure.”

“We had tremendous success with our liquid indigo not only in Pakistan butalso countries such as Peru, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, Egypt,Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and China. It is a long list ofsuccess stories behind the export of Denisol Indigo 30 from Pakistan. Our liquidindigo is the single biggest export product from Pakistan. The reason Archromamade a huge investment in this breakthrough innovation because we weredetermined to make our denim industry sustainable, thrive and prosper in times tocome.” �

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Archroma moves forward withfull scale production of its newaniline-free Denisol® Pure IndigoArchroma, a global leader in color andspecialty chemicals towards sustain-able solutions, announced that the pro-duction of its new aniline-free*Denisol® Pure Indigo has been acceler-ated due to the high demand encoun-tered on the market.

Aniline-free Denisol® Pure Indigo 30liquid was first announced in May 2018at the Planet Textile Conference held inCanada, and allows a cleaner way toproduce the traditional, iconic indigo bluecolor that consumers associated withdenim and jeans.

Archroma makes the Denisol® PureIndigo 30 dye in the most sustainableway as currently possible. The new dye isproduced in Archroma’s facility inPakistan, a plant that made the headlinesin 2012 for being what Archromabelieved to be the industry’s first ZeroLiquid Discharge plant.

“True to our commitment towardscontinuous innovation, Archromachallenges the status quo in the deepbelief that we can make our industrysustainable. Denisol® Pure Indigo is resultof our efforts to challenge acceptedtechnologies in order to find a better way

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to advance sustainability, and it istherefore extremely exciting to see thatbrands, retailers and manufacturers areeager to offer a more sustainable denimto consumers. We owe the successfullaunch of Denisol® Pure Indigo to theshared vision of the textile value chain topreserve our planet and its people, afterall – it’s our nature”, commentsAlexander Wessels, CEO of Archroma.

“I am delighted to inaugurate fullscale production of Denisol Pure Indigo30 liq – Aniline-free Indigo at ourJamshoro plant. This plant has a sizeablecapacity to meet the entire sustainablerequirements of Denim industry. True toits commitment towards continuous

innovation, Archroma challenges thestatus-quo in the deep belief that we canmake our industry sustainable. With thiswinning mindset, our R&D team has beensuccessful in presenting Aniline-freeIndigo to the denim world.Removing a hazardous impurity –Aniline from the denim supplychain, we have fulfilled ourresponsibility as a goodcorporate citizen towardscreating a greener

environment,” said Michel Zumstein,President, Commercial Region Asia �

Archroma Jamshoro plant.