Aditya Birla Fashion and GIZ to boost circular economy in India

With the support of GIZ, ABFRL along with the Indian industry players will be able to leverage circular business practices and adopt complex processes that are technically superior and consumer friendly

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL), one of India’s leading fashion companies, will collaborate with Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH for implementing an India specific project to strengthen the textile and apparel industry for sustainable clothing. This unique initiative is part of the ‘develoPPP programme’ and is being implemented by ABFRL and GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Dr Naresh Tyagi, Chief Sustainability Officer, ABFRL, said, “We look forward to collaborating with GIZ to transform the Indian textile sector with new and robust sustainability initiatives. ABFRL is the cochair of the Steering and Working Committee of the develoPPP project and will be responsible for setting the India agenda. It will implement select pilot projects together with global innovative solution providers.”

With this collaboration, ABFRL and GIZ aims to strengthen circular business practices for the Indian market. This will support the industry to match supply and demand which was witnessing pressure due to resource constraints.

Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited, commented, “We are happy to partner with Germany’s GIZ to introduce globally benchmarked circular business practices in India. India’s textile and apparel industry is the sixth largest in the world and second largest employment sector. A large part of the textile waste generated is sent to the landfill and incinerated instead of being recycled or reprocessed. There is a need to ‘self-disrupt’ existing practices and transition to a more circular approach. Promoting a common understanding is therefore crucial from a sustainable development perspective for the entire textile sector in India. Along with GIZ, we aim to create awareness among key stakeholders to drive circular approaches, reduce waste, and create closed-loop systems.”

The joint project is designed to introduce material innovation, reduce inputs of harmful substances, increase textile-to-textile recycling, develop alternatives to plastic packaging, and foster traceability. The program will complement existing business practices such as downcycling, recycling, reusing and introducing new sustainable production processes. With the support of GIZ, ABFRL along with the Indian industry players will be able to leverage circular business practices and adopt complex processes that are technically superior and consumer friendly.

Ashish Chaturvedi, Director Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management GIZ India, stated, “As a partner for international co-operation for sustainable development, we are committed to build a future worth living. The cooperation with ABFRL has great potential to help improving the sustainability of the Indian textile industry. In our opinion, combining the strength of both public and private partners is a win-win scenario, as it can create both developmental benefits for the local population and business benefits for the private companies.”

Dieter Frick, Project Manager develoPPP, GIZ Germany, added, “Solving global problems requires the commitment and cooperation of private sector, public sector and civil society partners worldwide. The BMZ’s develoPPP programme is a practicable instrument to effectively achieve this. Based on common interests, ABFRL and GIZ have developed a concept and are going to pool their capacities for three years under this funding programme to find and implement circular business approaches to strengthen a sustainable Indian textile and apparel industry together with other partners in the sector.”

With this project, ABFRL aims to build capacities in its own organization, its brands and among its suppliers, and to promote circular business practices in the Indian textile sector.

With revenue of Rs 5,249 crore spanning retail space of 8.4 million sq ft (as on March 31, 2021), Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited is India’s first billion-dollar pure-play fashion powerhouse with an elegant bouquet of leading fashion brands and retail formats. It has a repertoire of leading brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England established for over 25 years. Pantaloons is one of India’s largest fast fashion store brands. ABFRL holds exclusive online and offline rights to the India network of California-based fast fashion brand Forever 21. The Company’s foray into branded ethnic wear business includes Jaypore and strategic partnerships with Designers ‘Shantanu & Nikhil’, ‘Tarun Tahiliani’ and ‘Sabyasachi’.