What's is COVEROSS®︎TECHNOLOGY？

FASHION SUMMIT HONG KONG 06/SEP/2018

【Self-introduction】

"Blue sky", "Blue ocean", "sky full of stars". A place dear to my heart..

Nice to meet you, I am Moto Suzuki of hap Corporation from Tokyo.

Before talking about why we started "sustainable activities" we will give a short introduction of ourselves.

For the past 18 years since I graduated from college, I have mainly worked on material development, product design, production management etc. in 10 Asian countries (Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar , Bangladesh etc). Even now I am visiting fabric factories and garment factories in Asian countries about 20 times per year. Especially we produced a lot of denim products.

 

I founded hap co.,ltd., 12 years ago and now there are about 30 staff members.

We mainly deal with major Japanese casual brands, (1) material development, (2) product design through production design (3million products annually), (3) developing domestic owned brand “BLUEY”. 

"BLUEY" has a track record of collaborating with "RONHERMAN", "Fred Segal", "Reebok" and so on.

 

【Distortion of Japan’s beauty and the fashion industry】

As you know, Japan is an island country with few resources surrounded by the blue sea, it is a beautiful country with four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Also, The Tokyo Olympic games will be held in 2020 and many people from all over the world will visit. I grew up in Japan, a country with many generous people, and I love this country.

However, since I started working in the fashion industry, I came to have many doubts. In many brands in Japan, we prioritized "speed" and "low cost", procured materials of cost pursuit, and was not aware of the working environment. Fast fashion is prevalent in Japan, many consumers throw away clothes only after wearing them a few times. In Japan, we supply 4 billion pieces of clothing annually, and 3 billion pieces (1 million tons) including new items are discarded. I also witnessed child labor at the garment factories many times. According to a recent survey, 152 million children are working in the world.

【Efforts towards sustainable companies and fair supply chains of major companies】

Among them, our main customer "earth music & ecology" (Stripe International) has implemented the fair supply chain activities for the entire company three years ago.

Our company's cooperating garment factories also received an audit of "quality aspect" and "ethical aspect", and we also learned the laws and rules of each country. In Japan there are only a few companies with a factory audit system on ethics. We became strongly moved for the necessity of "sustainability" in the fashion industry. We decided to change our concept of "material development" and "brand development" to a direction that seems fit. "earth music & ecology" denim uses COTTON USA material which is sustainable raw material for 3 years.

【What is comfortable multifunctional fabric "COVEROSS®"? 】

Our company is strengthening the development of (1) performance improvement (comfortable multifunctionality), (2) cleanliness (reduction of washing frequency), (3) health care (improvement of immunity etc.) functional materials.

We are continuously developing comfortable multifunctional fabric "COVEROSS® ︎" using the latest Japanese technology from 2016 in Indonesia. Our engineers repeated over 10000 trials and errors over 3 years. 

Now it is the first time in the world to be able to simultaneously hold about 10 functions in "one fabric" at the same time, the variation of functionality has also increased (for example, photocatalyst, air catalyst, Self-Cleaning, cool feeling, anti-shear, sweat not noticeable, antibacterial, deodorant, absorbing quick drying, UV cutting, fatigue recovery by far infrared effect, sleep and blood pressure lowering effect, etc.). 

It is also possible to apply to natural fibers such as cotton. Our development is focusing on human and environmentally friendly functional material development, we are developing a flow that reduces water and energy as much as possible by reducing processing steps, and reducing costs.

【Use sustainable raw materials】

We recommend sustainable raw materials as much as possible for COVEROSS®. This year COVEROSS® was the first for a Japanese company to be selected as a "sustainable comfortable multifunctional material" in "What's new in Cotton program " of the International Cotton Council (CCI), the headquarters in Washington, USA. In February 2019 we will collaborate with CCI and we plan to exhibit COVEROSS® at the Première vision in Paris. We will convey sustainable comfortable multifunctional fabric "COVEROSS®" to many brands and consumers around the world.

We are also promoting the development of sustainable materials such as COTTON USA, Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and LENZING (TENCEL, REPREVE, Refibra) as raw materials for COVEROSS®. We are preparing to take the certification exam of OEKO-TEX in cooperation with our main "knitting factory".

 

 

【COVEROSS® fabric spreading activity】

Although we are a small company, we are promoting PR activities in Japanese television, newspapers, radio, magazines, Crowd Funding, etc. in order to raise awareness of COVEROSS®. Also, in

addition to Japan, last year I held a seminar on COVEROSS® with 20 students from HKDI participating. In April of this year, I participated in the CCI event in Hong Kong and was featured in Hong Kong's fashion magazine "Inside Fashion".

 

 

【What is the objective of BLUEY SURF CLUB? 】

From the spring and summer of 2019 we will launch "BLUEY SURF CLUB (BSC)" garment brand using sustainable comfortable multifunctional fabrics COVEROSS®."BSC" adds "sustainability" as well as "fashionability" and "multifunctionality".Surfing hap been registered as an official competition sport at the Tokyo Olympic Games. We believed that we could maintain "blue sky" and "blue ocean" forever and named it “BSC”.

 

【Purpose of participation of Fashion Summit】

Please imagine that the Antarctic ice will melt and the city of Hong Kong or Tokyo will sink in water.This summer is really hot and extreme weather is occurring all over the world.

We unawaringly cotton T-shirts which were produced through child labor and excessive pesticides.

My goal to participate in the fashion summit is to unite (to promote) the "concept” and "action" of our producer and consumer. The purpose is "for the bright future of children."

If we keep going on "disposable fast fashion habits of speed and low cost" how will the children's future and the global environment turn out? In the KPMG questionnaire, 78% of consumers are concerned about the future children and the earth due to environmental problems.

Do you know the word "Chigyo goitsu"? "Knowing but not acting is incompletion.”It is difficult to quickly change " the habits of disposability through fast and low cost obtainability" which that has been unintentionally implemented into our lives.

The words of Swiss philosopher "Amiel" "Life is but a tissue of habits" is. The attitude changes when the mind changes. Habits will change if attitudes change. Personality will change if habits change. The fate will change if the personality changes.

Through "COVEROSS® technology," we will promote effective activities for "a bright future for children".

In order to supply “BSC” products to as many people as possible, we will continuously base fabric development to sewing in Indonesia.

We hope to convey the thought of “BSC” to the people of the world not only by “BSC” brand development but also collaboration with other brands. Also, as there were many requests from customers aside from clothes we began production of towels, bed sheets, hats etc.

From September 4th to 21th 2018 hap co., Ltd. will hold an exhibition at Tokyo head office.

 

 

 

【What is COVEROSS® technology? 】

"COVEROSS® technology" is a technology to "execute" the creation of a bright future through the creation of sustainable clothes.

Development of "COVEROSS® ︎ technology" is based on the selection of raw materials for fabric (the amount of water and agricultural chemicals used is small and eco-friendly), the dyeing method (non-use of dangerous chemicals, correct wastewater treatment),and the garment factory that is well-regulated by carefully carrying out supply chain construction, such as fair trade without child labor or human rights problems).

 

COVEROSS® product is based on "Clear philosophy (Sustainavil = for the future of children)". Moreover, we will supply with a reasonable price, establishing quality, durability, brand image, excellent in design, excellent in comfortable multifunctional materials by the latest technology.

Ultimately, we put into consideration the timing of disposal of the products worn by consumers, and as much as possible use recyclable raw materials. It is necessary for each brand to cooperate and, more than anything, Cooperation (awareness) is essential.

We will continue to help bring thoughts into actions with our "consumers" for the bright future of our children. Each "change of mind" of a consumer leads to a bright future. Through "COVEROSS® technology" we believe that each and every one of you will move on to the activities for the bright future of children.

 

Thank you.

Best Regard,

Hap co.,ltd  Moto Suzuki.

 

In addition, a global survey on sustainable fashion consumption, sponsored by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and commissioned to KPMG, will be launched in the summit. The study surveyed over 5,000 consumers in Hong Kong, Shanghai, London, New York and Tokyo (at least 1,000 respondents from each market) assessing their views and consumption habits on sustainable fashion, also analyse the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.

 

Some key findings from the survey include:

- In terms of the understanding of sustainable fashion, consumers in Asian markets focus more on environmental matters, whilst those in the Western markets have a more holistic view on both environmental and social aspects

- 78% of the respondents across the market say they are concern about the environment/ pollution/wastage, only 64% of the surveyed consumers regard themselves as supportive of sustainable fashion; 43% think that their society is supportive of the concept

- 60% of the respondents across the markets prefer sustainable fashion only if its price is the same as normal fashion, while 22% of Shanghai consumers are willing to pay a higher price for sustainable fashion

- 64% agree that sustainability score or labelling system will encourage them to purchase sustainable fashion to some extent

- When clothes come to the end of their lives, over half of the consumers in the western markets tend to donate them to those who are in need, while Hong Kong consumers have also developed similar donation culture (41%)