Cinet Live-Event December 2nd 2021

NEW SUSTAINABLE & CIRCULAR BUSINESSES: HUGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PTC!

Consumers, clients and stakeholders in the textile supply chain recently developed a stronger demand for more sustainable and circular services and products. Many experts within and outside the industry, believe that sustainability and circularity will have an even larger impact on our future markets than covid has today.

Hence CINET organised this live-event to address the situation around the world and inspire members and other PTC professionals to develop new business initiatives for future growth and new profitable services. Sustainability & circularity seem important drivers for this development.

Closing the loop

The growth potential is huge. Thinking about circularity and capitalising the sustainable advantage of the PTC industry over domestic cleaning, the opportunities are phenomenal. Speakers from over 10 countries presented the key characteristics of change in their countries and interesting examples of new sustainable service models (the complete package has been made available on Wopcom December 3rd,  Last).

Up to 75% savings of CO2 by intensified usage of textiles

Additonally some results of the latest benchmark study were presented claiming intensified usage of textiles result easily in 50% – 75% CO2 reduction. An amazing and important finding. It underlines that focussing on a more intensified usage of garments is the best sustainable solution. Further research is planned to be able to present clear scientific proof of these values.

 

Huge PTC Market potential

Domestic market

Developing the domestic laundry market seems indeed a viable and attractive way to go. Currently in many countries PTC has only 5% of the market share of cleaning textiles, leaving domestic cleaning 95% of the market. But, why are the obvious advantages of PTC over domestic cleaning not convincing the consumer so far? Recent studies revealed the obstacles and came up with new ideas how to gain marketshare. Further research is planned.

Intensifying the use of textiles

Additionally the need for consumers to contribute to a better sustainability in their own lives provides new chances for PTC being 3 to 5 times more sustainable as laundring at home. The reuse of garments and linnen to the maximum of their economic and technical lifetime is something modern consumers become more and more aware of. New retail business like Vinted and H&M increase the usage of 2nd lives of garments and textiles, resulting according to new research into 50% to 75% improvement in sustainability. PTC can bring a great added value here by making garments “as new again”. Some consultants even predict the second hand market of garments to be bigger than the sales volume of new garments made of virgin materials in the next decade. Several initiatives of PTC companies have started.

Reuse of textile waste streams

The reuse of disposed textiles; cleaning and restoring them to “as new again” creating extra added value by doing so, is another new concept. Research and analysis on waste streames of textiles made it clear that a fair share of these waste volume can be restored “as new“ again, after professional cleaning and repair. This is not some charity activity as suggested by media, but meanwhile big business in countries like The Netherlands. It is furthermore supported by new EU legislation to realise a 100% reuse of textile waste streams. Pilots will start to evaluate the potential of adding value by PTC companies.

Professional entrepreneurs

Conclusion of this CINET Live – Event: it is not about the negative impact of Covid or other changes on the market, (though of course on the short term problems of Covid bring great challenges), it is more about how to adapt service and business models to meet changing market demands in PTC. For that modern entrepreneurial skills are needed to develop these opportunities.

Experts meet

The Program of this CINET LIve – Event was focussing on experiences and successful initiatives from over 15 countries, how organisations, associations, technical experts see market trends and opportunities in their respective countries. A great variety of input was presented in short pitches, documented in more detailed materials, made available by CINET via the easy accessible WOPCOM Platform. There you can find all pitches and comprehensive information.

Upgrading services at lower cost

Summarising the global input of this event it became clear that the global impact of Covid on market circumstances is happening everywhere; less revenue, higher operational cost, lack of skilled labour.

The current business and service models in PTC require adjustment to a changing market demand; new younger customers and upgraded convenience in modern services. After the Covid drop of revenues, high increase of operational costs cause great difficulty in especially SME companies. Sustainability & Circularity will indeed be an important driver in (future) business. Consumers are more and more convinced of the need to contribute to a more sustainable society. And, last but not least: IT, identification, automation and robotisation are essential technologies to enlarge the market volume substantially, by upgrading convenience services at lower operational cost.