South Carolina-based textiles and chemicals producer Milliken is moving closer to net-zero emissions.
The group this week released its 2023 sustainability report, with president and CEO Halsey Cook saying the company is “on track” to meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) and renewable energy goals thanks to gradual progress over the course of the past five years.
Milliken committed to reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emission 50.4 percent by 2030 from a 2018 base year, and to reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions 30 percent during the same period. By 2050, Milliken said it will reduce Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 GHG emissions by 90 percent.
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Milliken is on its way to reaching its near-term Scope 1 and Scope 2 targets, and outpaced its Scope 3 2030 emissions reduction goal in 2023, lessening GHG outputs from its supply chain by 32 percent from the 2018 baseline. The group credits its emissions reduction success to investments in “cogeneration, energy efficiency, and renewable energy procurement,” which are keeping the company “ahead of schedule” relative to its 2025 goals.
“Milliken’s sustainability commitments are marked by steady progress—sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but always moving toward our purpose of making a positive impact for generations to come,” Cook said. Last January, the group became the first U.S. multi-market textile manufacturer to remove PFAS from its product lines.
Through its annual assessments and reporting the group aims to “share what’s working, embrace what we’ve not yet solved, and stand strong in our belief that meaningful progress is possible. This is no small task, and we recognize all who are on this journey with us.”
Milliken introduced a new, three-step product sustainability assessment process in order to classify new products launched into the market based on the “significance of their sustainability contribution.” According to the report, environmental and social impacts, market perception and regulatory and legislative developments will play a bigger role in the assessment of new products before they’re brought to market. The framework takes into account the group’s established sustainability goals as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Milliken highlighted new products that it believes represent the best of its sustainable offerings. For one, the Polartec Shed Less Fleece, introduced in the U.S. early last year, reduces textile fiber fragment shedding through a unique yarn construction, knitting process and chemistry.
“Polartec has been researching root causes and mitigation strategies for fiber fabric shedding performance fabrics for many years,” Polartec senior vice president Ramesh Kesh, Ph.D. said. “Shed Less fleece is a natural progression of this curiosity toward our goal of reducing shedding to near zero in all our performance fabrics.”
“Shed Less used the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) TM212-2021 test method for fiber fragment release during home laundering,” he added. “This test was conducted with large sample sizes to account for variability. The testing concluded that Shed Less fleece reduced fiber fragment shedding by an average of 85 percent compared to the baseline fabric.”
The material made its U.S. debut with the Polartec 200 Series fleece, and the group plans to apply the Shed Less process to other fabric programs across its portfolio.
Meanwhile, Biolon plant-based nylon—made from plant-based and renewable inputs and launched last fall—is helping Polartec slash its reliance on fossil fuels. The material has a 50-percent lower carbon footprint than virgin Nylon-6,6, while still demonstrating the same performance properties of the “gold standard” material.
Milliken also touted its 2023 investments in creating a more circular economy. 2023 represented the first full year since the group invested in Danville, Va. textile-to-textile recycling innovator Circ, which boasts a patented hydrothermal process that allows poly-cotton blends to be separated and recovered into usable inputs. The process preserves a garment’s cotton fibers while taking polyester down to its polymer building blocks, so it can be repolymerized into new fibers and materials.
The group has additionally invested in promoting more widespread participation in recycling efforts.
The Milliken & Company Charitable Foundation, which co-founded The Recycling Partnership’s Center for Sustainable Behavior and Impact to improve recycling infrastructure and awareness in the U.S., launched the Recycling Program Solutions Hub in October 2023.
The nationwide tool acts as a resource for American recycling coordinators, giving them access to an interactive map complete with local programs and processing centers across the country. The Hub also features a catalog of resources and information about local programs. According to the Center, there are more than 9,000 recycling programs in the U.S. for different types of materials.
“The Recycling Program Solutions Hub brings powerful data and research-backed solutions straight to the source that needs this information—the local coordinators,” Cook said. “Equipping these leaders with the right information and resources can help them bolster their programs, strengthening the recycling infrastructure in the U.S. and bringing us one step closer to a truly circular economy.”
