Green Tide Rising
In Thailand, chemical - free cotton is a money-spinner
By Michael Vatikiotis in Bangkok
Wearing white, at least in the Thai-Chinese cultural context, is strictly for funerals. But one Bangkok garment-maker is finding that people can break with tradition — and help clean up the environment in the process.
"Thank you for choosing unbleached and undyed cotton. [It] conserves resources, prevents pollution and is environmentally safe." This thank-you note comes with every purchase of Montchai Montaraks’ off-white "Green Cotton" clothes.
Four years ago, Montchai started marketing towels and simple cloth bags made of unbleached and undyed cotton. His conscience was pricked, he says, when he discovered that industrial dyeing and bleaching released toxic dioxins into Bangkok’s water supply. ‘Pollution in Thailand is a serious problem," the garment maker said in an interview in his office a few steps away from one of Bangkok’s fume-filled roads. "I wanted to make sure that the water we used returned to the system clean."
But will Thais, who cannot be persuaded to abandon their cars to make Bangkok a cleaner city, worry about the chemicals used to make the clothes they wear? Green Cotton’s sales figures suggest they might. The trademark expects annual sales to rise to more than Baht 2 million (US$80,000) this year from Baht 100,000 in 1990. In fact, sales are so brisk that Montchai has opened a second outlet in Pattaya, south of Bangkok.
By saving 40,000 litres of water and 140 kilowatts of electricity each time a new batch of cloth is dyed, Montchai not only conserves resources, he also cuts costs. Green Cotton products are about 30% cheaper to manufacture than those made with dyed or bleached cloth, he calculates.
Initially, Montchai encountered some resistance from consumers. "People thought the cloth was too rough and cheap and preferred colours," he says. But lately chemical-free cotton has become something of a fad, spinning-off a green-marketmg craze in Bangkok similar to the one that swept Europe a decade ago.
Now a handful of large consumer-goods makers, such as Lever Brothers Thailand, are turning to products that are made with fewer chemicals and packaged using environment-friendly materials. Firms are also discussing an identification system: garments made without polluting the environment will receive a green label.
Dhira Phantumvanit of the Thailand Environment Institute says the potential for marketing environment-friendly products among Thailand’s urban middle classes is good. "People are concerned," Dhira says. "When they have the money they would like to help."
But Dhira warns that most companies aren’t marketing products that have been tested for their environmental impact. "They are using the environment as an advertising theme," he says. The privately run institute is trying to regulate environmental standards in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry.
Green Cotton seems to be setting a trend in Bangkok’s garment industry. At least three other local firms are following Montchai’s example — marketing a range of basic products. Apiradee Tantivejakul, merchandise development manager at Bangkok’s Central Department Store, manages the store’s "Back to the Origin" brand. She says sales have risen 30% during the current year. "We find that selling basic products attracts consumers because the prices are cheaper," she says, noting production costs are about 20% lower.
The products go far beyond T-shirts selling at around Baht 190. Inventories now include everything from picture frames in soft, unbleached wood to toilet paper made from recycled paper. Green Cotton also is moving into the production of natural paper made from wood bark and kitchen utensils carved from coconut shells.
Montchai, who is now receiving orders from overseas, including the United States and Denmark, isn’t worried about the competition. He claims Green Cotton is the only label which totally shuns dyeing and bleaching: "It’s not the same, even if you use natural dyes," Montchai says. "People are worried about pollution and want to contribute to environmental protection.".
Source : Far Eastern Economic Review September 15 1994
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