In order to confront the water challenges faced by the global textile and apparel industry, Arvind Ltd and Gap Inc on Saturday jointly inaugurated a Global Water Innovation Centre For Action (GWICA) that will not only test industrial effluents, but will also be an innovation hub for apparel companies, among others.

Situated at Arvind’s Santej unit near Ahmedabad, this centre was formally opened by Punit Lalbhai, vice-chairman and executive director of Arvind Ltd and Richard Dickson, President and CEO of Gap Inc. “This centre has a state-of-the-art laboratory that will allow testing of all waste-water streams from anywhere in the world, or any part of our supply chain, to be analysed and prescriptions given, for improvement. We will also be NABL accredited so that third party stamp of approvals can be given for results,” said Lalbhai at a formal event held at Santej.

“The testing will be a separate profit centre that will help finance some activities of GWICA. Gap and Arvind are laying only the first brick. This centre is for everyone. We will publicise the engagement model as this evolves,” said Lalbhai while interacting with mediapersons later.

At the heart of GWICA lies a R&D laboratory which will serve as a launching pad for piloting and incubating innovative water solutions. Lalbhai said since last few years, Arvind uses fresh water only for human consumption at its units, while recycled water is used for textile production. “We need as much water as the city of Ahmedabad needs for drinking, to make our textiles. Not a drop of fresh water is used (in textile production). It is all recycled,” Lalbhai added.

GWICA also aims to be an open source repository for water management in apparel manufacturing. It will also offer comprehensive training programmes.

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