INNOVATING WITH STYLE AND QUALITY

Florence, 28th June 2017 – A company’s strength is based upon its ability to innovate and upon the quality of the projects it developed to respond to the needs of a constantly changing society.

SUSTAINABILITY

Botto Giuseppe have been manufacturing yarns and fabrics for over 140 years and are now broadening their sustainability model with their 2018/19 fall/winter collection.

NATURALIS FIBRA

Their existing Slowool (superfine wool), Fairwool (superfine wool/cashmere) and Fair (cashmere) range of products was enriched with a new mulesing-free wool originating from New Zealand, branded Aroha.

These yarns are manufactured in their Tarcento factory in Friuli, operating solely on sustainable energy such as hydroelectric dam-generated energy and solar energy obtained from large expanses of photovoltaic panels fitted on their roof.

Silvio Botto Poala, Botto Giuseppe’s CEO, is certain that the sustainability route is also synonymous with new luxury brands:

“Preserving our Planet and protecting its inhabitants have been popular topics for several years, and we believe, now more than ever, that it is our duty to also apply these ideas to the fashion segment to transform it into a sector operating on sound principles of eco-sustainable and ethical fashion. In fact, thanks to its strict environment and work rules, Italy already enjoys a considerable advantage vis-à-vis other developing manufacturing countries, with lower production costs and where workers’ working conditions are very poor and environment protection is simply neglected. The sustainable fashion sector we aim for strives to generate a balanced relationship both with the environment and its inhabitants in a fully, thoroughly transparent system.”

The route to sustainability is complex and constant in all chain production phases.

Mulesing-free wools, paddock rotation techniques to avoid soil impoverishment, exploitation of fresh water springs for breeding and pasture, production of yarns with renewable and sustainable energy in the Tarcento factory, dyeing with selected pigments: all these processes are certified through rigorous tests by Cradle to Cradle™, an American company.

REVAMPED IMAGE

NATURALIS FIBRA and its virtuous path are central to Botto Giuseppe’s image and to their Pitti Filati stand.

A red thread maps the path on its floors and walls, leading visitors along a visual route to help them understand the complex stages of the production chain in an intuitive and simple manner.

A ball of yarn, a brush, a water drop and a sun are icons that simplify at a stroke the complexity of the research and the investment of resources needed to obtain NATURALIS FIBRA, a collection harmonising with the environment and mankind.

A collection to be cherished as a way of life.

FEEL THE YARN

Botto Giuseppe strongly believe in the future and consequently in the young and, on Feel the Yarn eighth edition, are among the key players of the Knit Mix event in conjunction with the influential Royal College of Art.

Press Office

Alessandra Praudi

348-6067818


SUSTAINABILITY NUMBERS

Over the past ten years, Botto Giuseppe e Figli Spa invested huge financial and human resources to develop projects linked to environmental sustainability.

The company believes that efficiency, energy saving, electricity production by means of renewable sources and process streamlining have been and shall be strategic themes. Production is carried out in our two factories at Valle Mosso in Biella province and at Tarcento in Friuli.

Valle Mosso Factory

Saving Electricity

By fitting air conditioning systems with inverters, replacing the air compressed power plant with state-of-the-art compressors, updating pumped storage units and burners in the heating plant, replacing all fluorescent bulbs with LED lighting, we managed to save approximately 2,000,000 kWh/annum, corresponding to about 885 t/annum in CO2 levels.

Saving Natural Gas

Waste heat recovery from moisture drips, installation of recuparators on boiler funnels, recovery of cooling water to pre-heat de-mineralised water feeding our steam generators and installation of continuous combustion monitoring systems on steam generators resulted in approximately 300,000 cm natural gas/annum savings, corresponding to about 600 t/annum in CO2 levels.

In 2012, we proceeded to install a 22kW microturbine, generating about 90,000 kWh/annum in this factory, with a saving of approximately 38 t/annum in CO2 levels.

Yearly Reduction in CO2 Emissions

We achieved outstanding results by reducing emissions by approximately 21%, in line with current EU directives. Consumption will decline by a further 30% thanks to new machinery and equipment scheduled to be purchased in the near future.


Tarcento Factory

The factory is wholly self-sufficient; the hydroelectric power plant generates approximately 8,000,000 kWh, corresponding to about 3,376 t/annum in CO2 level reduction. The photovoltaic panels fitted on the roof generate 230,000 kWh/annum, equal to about 97 t/annum in CO2 level reduction.

Of these, about 3,500,000 kWh are used by the factory for its own needs, while the rest is input into the grid.

Over the past ten years, we carried out energy efficiency maintenance on air-conditioning systems, on lighting where Led lamps replaced fluorescent bulbs and reduced compressed air losses, which resulted in savings of 1,000,000 kWh, equal to about 420 t/annum in CO2 levels.

Replacement of a condensation boiler will save about 60,000 cm of natural gas per annum or about 120 t/annum in CO2 levels.

Further investments to upgrade the hydroelectric station with a turbine to recover drained water will lead to the production of about 1,700,000 kWh/annum, corresponding to about 720 t/annum in CO2 level reduction.

The recently installed vegetal oil power plant generates about 7,000,000 kWh/annum, which are entirely fed into the grid. The CO2 introduced into the environment is about 3.000 t/annum.

Energy Balance

70% of the electricity used by Botto Giuseppe comes from renewable sources; however, over the next few years, the company aims to obtain 100% of its electricity requirements from this type of sources through important investments in hydroelectric power and cogeneration projects.

2018-19 Fall/Winter Collection

Blue is lavish and luminous, nocturnal, almost black while greys become soft and sophisticated with a touch of lilac toning down their harshness and blue turning into lead.

Orange, caramel and brick red show a hint of nostalgia.

The soft nuances of jade, dusty azure, aqua green and emerald green symbolise versatility.

Pink, the season’s key colour, takes on the whole dusty range of skin tones and strengthens into deeper clay and cold chestnut nuances.

The burnt bronze and rusty gold tones of metal yarns add a rather dusty, vintage, luxury touch.

The more acid, almost neon yellows are energetic while the reds, disconnected from their typical hues, exhibit hot pink and violet-blue nuances filtered through a full gold-plating.