Around 50 percent of MAS Holdings revenue by 2025 will be from sustainable products, MAS Holdings CEO Suren Fernando told the media at the launch of Planetoids, a 100% natural dye solution for lace, the first of its kind to be certified by the Control Union by Noyon Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of MAS Holdings .
“Sustainability is at the heart of our operations and we strive to offer products that go well with people. Planetones showcases our commitment to practising responsible use of chemicals within the value chain,” Fernando said. Noyon’s Planetones natural dye solution, which has already been commercialised with two leading European fashion brands, offers a broad colour palette of 32 shades, extending beyond the neutral hues commonly seen in natural dye solutions and uses natural colour sources such as cranberry and achiote.
Further to the Control Union certification, known as the ‘Eco Dye Standard,’ the natural dye solution also complies with standards set by the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL) Level 1. It is noteworthy that Noyon is the first organisation to receive the Eco Dye Standard certification from the Control Union.
Noyon Lanka is a subsidiary of MAS Holdings and was formed in 2003.
Chief Executive Officer of Noyon, Ashiq Lafir said, “By leveraging our advanced research and development and technology capabilities, Noyon has developed several innovative and sustainable solutions that have the potential to reduce the environmental footprint of our products, while fulfilling all key performance and quality parameters of our customers.
“This latest solution is an important milestone in this journey — one which we hope will also elevate Sri Lanka’s standing as a sustainable apparel manufacturing destination. Our efforts are focused towards producing a garment that is coloured only using natural dye in the near future.”
Colouration has long been known as a process that is resource intensive, with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimating that the dyeing and treatment of fabric generate as much as 20% of wastewater worldwide.
Compared with a synthetic dye, reducing a washing cycle in the natural dyeing process of Planetones provides an estimated water and energy saving of approximately 30% and 15%.