SUSTAINABILITY

The magic word
Yes, it’s everywhere. ‘Sustainability’ progressively reclaims its place in fashion industry communication. It is thoroughly being used in articles, studies, statistics. It underlies the action plans of great brands, determines the long-term transformations of supply and production chain, or even triggers subtle (but firm) changes in consumption behavior.
In just few words, the ‘green’ trend transfigures the fashion industry, making it more responsible, more ethical, more involved.

What is sustainability, after all?
Essentially, sustainability is being responsible for the planet’s future.
From apparel’s standpoint, sustainability refers to an industry that uses and reuses safe materials, that protects ecosystems and provides people with an ethical and correct working environment.
Complying with sustainability principles has a direct impact on the companies as a whole, on their internal and external operations, aiming objectives such as:

•	Durable products – meaning positive-impact garments, made from durable materials, based on natural resources savings, through processes entailing low-pollution risks, respecting nature and animals.
•	Circular fashion – meaning a closed garments’ life cycle, meant to preserve the product added value for as long as possible, even after the using stage, through reusing waste and reducing pollution. Solutions such as garments made from recycled materials, biodegradable pieces of clothing, setting up a global system of collecting and sorting textile waste, the emergence of new recycling technologies are to be followed here.
•	Responsible supply chains – an ever-growing number of companies and brands transparently communicate information on their supply chains, proving their responsibility on the source of the materials they use and on their production flows, based on ecologically-durable processes and ethical, safe and dignified working conditions.
•	Positive-impact fashion – based on their sustainability policies, the fashion companies are getting more active and involved in the communities they work within and address to, carrying out extensive social responsibility programs. Furthermore, sustainability projects, standards and certifications are emerging on a regular basis, their purpose being to transform the textile industry so that it become ‘greener’ and contribute to building a brighter future for people worldwide and for the planet.

Why sustainability in fashion industry?
The answer is not complicated – the fashion industry is one of the most damaging industry sectors in the world, being surpassed by the oil and petroleum sectors only. Polluting waters, using toxic chemical substances and producing textile waste are only some of the negative side-effects of the apparel production worldwide. Producing a single pair of jeans means using 21,000 liters of water, 1,5 kilograms of pesticides and producing up to 30 kilograms of greenhouse gas. As a matter of fact, the greenhouse gas emissions resulted from the apparel industry exceed the ones resulted from the international shipping transport and the aviation together.
The consumers have their own contributions to this problematic entanglement, too: placing a huge focus on garments aesthetics and brands, motivated by low prices and mobilized by ads promising happiness and status, the end customers do not pay enough attention to ethical implications of the fashion industry. What they do, instead, is buy and buy. In Europe, we tend to buy 60% more clothes a year and keep them for a period 50% shorter than we used to 15 years ago. At this rate, by 2050, the natural resources the world’s population will need will be three times the ones used in 2000.
Fortunately, however, things tend to progress at this stage, as well. More and more clients read the garment labels, are interested in the source of the clothes and in the way they were produced, choose brands that share their values and concerns. The power indubitably lies in their hands. Through obvious preference for sustainable fashion and ‘greener’ consumption behavior, the buyers can push the (still) indifferent manufacturers towards adopting a more responsible policy.

The story of Gemini CAD Systems is the story of a pioneer, of a visionary, of an innovative and non-conformist player, seeing the evolution as the natural result of putting intelligence, effort and responsibility together.

What does Gemini CAD Systems do to support the sustainable fashion?
1. Firstly, Gemini creates smart technologies, that bring higher efficiency and more resources savings. You can find here a simple example of the way in which the efficiency of the Gemini automatic nesting application, working in tens of thousands of companies in the whole world, leads to reducing the consumption of water and energy, to lowering the level of pollution and, eventually, to saving 2% of the global fabric absorption each year.
2. Secondly, Gemini stimulates the adoption of ‘green’ practices in the textile industry through creating special facilities for sustainable companies. You can find here details on the ‘Put on Green!’ program and its first campaign that was carried out in Romania in 2018, via which Gemini CAD Systems ‘rewarded’ its sustainable customers with retrofit grants.
The ‘Put on Green!’ program will continue, aiming to create a wider ‘green’ community in the fashion industry and to support the companies’ efforts to modernize their production systems and elevate their degree of sustainability.
3. 3. Thirdly, Gemini promotes the ‘green’ trend across the fashion industry. As a partner in countless academic, educational, professional or community projects, or as an initiator of its own actions, Gemini CAD Systems has always been an active militant for ecological and social responsibility.

What are our goals?
We, Gemini CAD Systems, believe that everything we do today has an impact on tomorrow, and, therefore, we actively support all valuable responsible initiatives. We believe that the fashion industry is an essential component of the global economy, with a major influence on the quality of life and of the environment, now and in the future.
We believe in the sustainable fashion and wish to be part of the ‘green’ trend, due to which the garments industry has become more ethical, more responsible, more involved.
For this reason, we intend to make sustainability an essential topic on the apparel manufacturers’ agenda, a progress vector in the industry and a catalyzer for getting the companies closer.

What have we achieved so far?
In 2018, we have set up and launched the ‘Put on Green!’ program, through which Gemini CAD Systems is to run its own sustainability projects.
Our objectives are:

•	to gradually build an ever-stronger community of sustainable companies in the fashion industry and
•	to develop the durable-clothing market, where designers, brands, manufacturers and consumers share the same values and responsibility to the future.

Non-refundable financing via ‘Put on Green!’
The first step, Romania. A non-refundable financing campaign, dedicated to the apparel companies that act sustainably, for retrofitting and automatization. 25,000 EUR available budgets for the eligible candidates, to be used for purchasing modern and high-performance cutting machines.
In the exchange for the received financing, the beneficiaries undertake to develop sustainable practices in their own companies and to promote the ecological and social-responsibility principles, with a strong focus on the resource savings and the waste management. Our partners thus set examples to be followed, becoming active promoters of the ‘green’ trend, together with Gemini CAD Systems.

‘Put on Green!’ continues
The emergence of a sustainable collection or even of a sustainable brand is the result of a wide array of favorable factors. A designer who is keen on exploring, a visionary, often an innovator. Full commitment to the present and a responsible view on the future. Perhaps, opportunities to address a niche of demanding consumers who buy only products they trust. A touch of boldness and implication coming from the brand or its people, aiming to shake the industry off any traces of lethargy, dust or indifference.

Finally, all the above-mentioned attributes fully deserve our support. The Gemini signature, in its turn, is to mean innovation, vision or responsibility, having its fair share of non-conformism and boldness. Therefore, we belong together with all those who push fashion forward, towards a brighter future.

With its ‘Put on Green!’ campaign, Gemini CAD Systems will continue to create special facilities for the sustainable manufacturers, designers and brands that provide ‘green’ fashion all over the world.
Stay tuned to find out more about the new ‘Put on Green!’ campaign – soon!