Sustainable fashion development deepens SHEIN's application of digital thermal transfer has saved 1.13 million tons of water

Technological innovation plays an increasingly important role in promoting the sustainable development of the industry. As a leader in sustainable fashion development , SHEIN actively uses digital thermal transfer technology to replace traditional screen printing. Since the application of this technology in 2018, as of June 2024, SHEIN's products using digital thermal transfer technology have exceeded 65%. At present, through the application of this technology, SHEIN has saved a total of 1.13 million tons of water. As an important practice of SHEIN in the field of ESG, digital thermal transfer is deeply integrated with SHEIN's on-demand flexible supply chain, which continues to promote the sustainable development of the fashion industry.

Digital thermal transfer saves 1.13 million tons of water with ever-expanding application scope

Digital heat transfer is a printing technology that prints dyes on heat transfer paper and then transfers them to fabric to form a pattern. The biggest feature of this technology is that it greatly saves water resources while improving efficiency. According to the verification of Bureau Veritas ( BV) , a global leader in testing, inspection and certification services , the digital heat transfer technology used by SHEIN is a zero-water consumption printing process. In comparison, traditional screen printing requires 0.49 tons of water to print 100 meters of fabric.

SHEIN continues to expand the application of this energy-saving and environmentally friendly technology. From 2018 to June 2024, SHEIN 's products using digital thermal transfer technology have exceeded 65%. At present, the application of this technology has enabled SHEIN to save 1.13 million tons of water, which is approximately equivalent to 2.26 billion bottles of 500 ml bottled water. It is worth mentioning that SHEIN digital thermal transfer also uses environmentally friendly inks certified by Oeko-tex and does not contain harmful substances.

At the same time, digital thermal transfer technology and the on-demand production supply chain model led by S HEIN are deeply integrated, continuously contributing to the sustainable development of the fashion industry. S HEIN 's on-demand production flexible supply chain model makes flexible and agile adjustments to orders based on market and sales trends, thereby reducing production and inventory waste at the source, while digital thermal transfer can achieve smaller batches and flexible single-volume printing pattern production. The production models and concepts of the two are perfectly integrated, reducing resources and production waste at the source.

At the same time, digital heat transfer technology can also detect any defects and flaws in complex designs or when creating patterns, and remove them before transferring the pattern to the fabric , further ensuring the high quality of the finished garment.

Sustainable development is rooted in every aspect of the business to release green new quality productivity

In addition to digital heat transfer, SHEIN also uses digital cold transfer denim technology to develop and produce environmentally friendly denim fabrics. Cold transfer technology uses digital printing technology to achieve the denim effect that originally relied on multiple washes, thereby producing more customized and diversified denim style products. Certified by Bureau Veritas ( BV), SHEIN 's cold transfer denim technology can save up to 70.5% of water compared to traditional denim fabric production methods .

Integrating the concept of sustainable development into every aspect of business operations and product life cycle is where S HEIN continuously releases new quality productivity of the flexible supply chain. From raw materials, production and manufacturing, packaging to product circulation, S HEIN incorporates the sustainable strategy of equal empowerment, collective resilience and lean innovation throughout.

In the second quarter, SHEIN continued to make progress in promoting the recycling of textile waste, sustainable clothing series, zero landfill and second-hand circular economy. Among them, the SHEIN EPR Fund, which is committed to solving global textile waste management and developing a circular economy, officially selected the UnTours Foundation as its second grantee . SHEIN's latest sustainable clothing series "SHEIN X Rescued" uses excess industry inventory fabrics purchased in cooperation with sustainable fashion company Queen of Raw to develop and design SHEIN clothing. SHEIN's warehousing and logistics park has obtained the zero landfill management system certification from TÜV Rheinland, an international independent third-party testing, inspection and certification agency. In terms of promoting the circular economy of products, SHEIN launched SHEIN Exchange in Europe for consumers to trade SHEIN's second-hand goods. The platform is currently online in France and will be expanded to the UK and Germany markets in the future.

As one of the most popular fashion brands in the world, SHEIN has won the favor of consumers because it provides rich, diverse and cost-effective products while continuously devoting itself to the continuous practice in the field of green and environmental protection, and continuously permeating the concept of sustainable development from the source of innovation model and the entire life cycle of products. SHEIN's leading on-demand flexible supply chain model has reduced the brand's unsold inventory level to the low single digits, leading the sustainable development trend of the industry. The continuous sustainable practice in each operation link from raw materials, R&D production, packaging, logistics, and product circulation will also enable S HEIN and other high-quality development brand representatives to continue to release green new quality productivity.

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Digital thermal transfer