Artistic Fabric Mills (AFM) has taken one step closer to complete transparency.
The vertically integrated denim producer located in Karachi, Pakistan, has collaborated with Dutch clean-tech company Aware to make its sustainable denim materials 100 percent traceable and readily verifiable for brands and partners.

Traceability technology that is aware can monitor the fibre, yarn, and final garment across the whole supply chain. This enables companies to “concretely demonstrate to consumers that all of their products are manufactured from the original sustainable resources.” A scan can tell the difference between fake and real sustainable cloth. The objective of AFM is to make it easy for people to determine whether a product is created from sustainable materials.
AFM has introduced traceability technology that provides consumers with immediate access to all traceability data, including original certifications, materials used, and where it was manufactured. The technology offers AFM greater control over its supply chain and will aid in the verification of the company’s long-term ambitions, such as completing closed-loop production by 2022. “We feel it is critical that our partners have full belief and trust in our practices,” said Muhammad Iqbal Ahmed, AFM chairman.
Aware is a common technology in the denim industry for tracing recycled cotton and polyester. Calik Denim has collaborated with the firm for the first time to trace its recycled cotton. “Traceability is critical since 59 percent of sustainability claims by fashion firms [are] determined to be greenwashing,” stated Aware founder and CEO Feico van der Veen.