Must Garment wins apparel category at HKB Designed in Hong Kong Awards

The company designs sustainable jeans manufactured from recycled plastic bottles.

Must Garment Corporation Limited, a design-focused manufacturer in Hong Kong, bagged the women’s apparel category at the second instalment of HKB Designed in Hong Kong Awards, which recognises the world city’s most innovative and unique B2C and B2B products which have made a significant impact in their respective industries.

As one of the leaders in sustainable manufacturing solutions, a major focus of Must Garment is the environmental impact associated with manufacturing denim. It recently unveiled an “ultimate sustainable jeans” made up of soft denim, which was like any pair with the added bonus of being environmentally friendly.

“Wherever possible, steps have been taken to reduce the overall impact and make it the most sustainable jean without compromising fit and overall aesthetic of the garment,” explained Akhil Bhagwat, Must Garment's COO and Executive Director.

To create this innovative product, Must Garment developed the denim’s exclusive qualities with Repreve, an innovative technique that uses recycled plastic bottles in polyester fibre. This fibre blended with cotton and spandex creates a soft denim that is comfortable to wear. The company also uses the latest in sustainable practices within the denim category to amplify the fabric’s bi-stretch characteristics and tummy tamer mesh for an overall enhanced fit.

“Using Jeanologica's nanobubble technology and Tonello's core & uptake technology, Must is able to wash denim using about 20% water whilst achieving beautiful washes,” Bhagwat, adding that an environmental impact measuring (EIM) software is implemented in all aspects of the production process to measure water, chemical and energy consumption as well as the overall impact of each style to worker health and the environment.

Must Garment designs the range of products in Hong Kong, with input from the global teams encompassing trend, fabric innovation, sustainability measures and fit enhancement.

“With our own manufacturing in Bangladesh and Jordan and textile processing company in China and with trend hubs based in New York and London and a team of international designers based in Hong Kong, Must has a global approach to design, sustainability, fabric innovation and fit,” said Bhagwat, adding that the manufacturer shares market intelligence daily through different reporting systems to ensure that its in-house design teams and customers are instantly notified with the most accurate and up-to-date trend information.

Besides design, innovation, and sustainability, quality and on-time delivery is at the heart of Must Garment Corporation Limited. Through extremely high-quality standards, the company manufactures 65 million pieces per year and has an exceptional record for on-time delivery with all its clients.

The HKB Designed in Hong Kong Awards, presented by Hong Kong Business, was held on 27 August 2019 at Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong.

This year’s nominees were judged by a panel consisting of Charbon Lo, Director at Crowe (HK) CPA Limited; John Poon, Head of Accounting & Outsourcing Solutions at Mazars Hong Kong; Ryan Swann, Audit & Assurance Director at Baker Tilly Hong Kong Limited; Kevin Lam, Partner at ShineWing; and Falcon Chan, Strategy & Operations Partner at Deloitte China.

If you would like to join in 2020 and be hailed as one of the most outstanding product innovators in Hong Kong, please email [email protected]