Officina39 is an Italian company specializing in sustainable chemical solutions for the textile industry. Officina+39 offers a selected range of chemical specialities, dyestuffs,, and pigments, particularly for denim washing fields and auxiliaries for traditional textiles.
This company is successfully led in Bangladesh by dynamic Country Director Engr. Md. Nasir Ullah. Recently, Team Denim Focus had a conversation with Engr. Md. Nasir Ullah, Country Director, Officina+39, where he shared his views about the Textile and Apparel Industry and addressed ongoing challenges. The interview is highlighted below for our readers.
About the recent industry situation:
I would say, the situation is uncomfortable. Though, the factories have had a good number of orders. However, there was unrest in the factory for quite a long time, which has had an impact. In the meantime, the situation has improved a bit, I can still see the brands and western people are observing. If we can run smoothly, we can have a promising future since we have good orders. Another problem I would like to highlight today is that some factories face severe financial crises. Some of them are not able to pay. Even the LC payment is for the imported material that they brought. Though these factories are very few, still they have significant impact on the total situation, especially because they create a terrible impression on our foreign stakeholders, the suppliers. Some banks are blocked since beneficiary banks are not getting payment in due time after repeated requests. Suppliers’ banks no longer accept LC from those banks. So, the situation is not very comfortable until today.
As a company, Officina and DyeAffin Limited, we are completing the year quite well. Though we have a shortage to achieve our expectations, there is a valid reason for not reaching them. We could have done it if the situation had been stable and the factories were running well. Not only us, but also our other competitors had similar issues.
Forecast for 2025:
I see a slight growth in our company compared to 2023, and we expect to have an excellent year in 2025 if the factories run well. In this particular line, where we are talking about reducing environmental impact, and on the line of sustainability, we have quite an enormous range of products. In this session, I would like to highlight only two products, actually it’s two packages for Denim Washing industry. We are dealing with this segment significantly as an important contributor. From two package, one is very important and interesting for Denim Washing industry. In Denim washing, there are the uses of the enzyme which mandatory product to get the abrasion, pumic stones for more abrased look, and then anti-back staining agent to keep the garments clean. To replace all three, we are offering our All-in-One package. Another product, we are focusing is Zero PP package to replace Potassium Permanganate.
New Development:
We have developed a product called Aqualess All-in-One. It is a product where this process has been developed to run in waterless condition and at room temperature. So, additional temperature will not be required. The process has no water or temperature, and this product, Aqualess All-in-One, can replace three products together. One is enzyme, the second one is pumic stone, which is a vast quantity we use in the process, and the third one is anti-back staining agent. This product can be workable for Denim, I mean Indigo, and you can achieve whichever extent wash look you want get. It also works in black sulfur, a perfect way to see the abrasions. It is also working on the garment dyeing and the dischargeable garment dyeing. So, this product is one of the best products in our product line. You know, when we talk about sustainability, we have to talk about either cost neutral or cost reduction; any sustainability generating high cost is not viable, but here in this process of Aqualess All-in-One, we can work with the factories and prove that it is not only cost-neutral, but we can even show the savings in the entire process.”
Other than this All-in-One, we would like to share one more range of us; we call a full pack a solution of Zero PP. You know, Potassium Paramagnet (PP) is a product that everyone wants to stop from the process because it is seriously impacting the health of the workers and at the same time, the environment. So, here, you know, for the PP, we used to get the whiteness on the garment either locally or all over the garments. You know, the intensity of whiteness can vary from mild, medium to very aggressive. Based on that, we have divided our package-for the mild intensity, we call it Zero PP laser. The product is basically laser smoother, which intensifies the powder of laser and gives a very natural look. So, the entire dry process, like whisker and hand-sanding, everything can be done with the laser, but the ultimate look will be similar if done manually.
Now, when we talk about the medium intensity, we are offering a product called Zero PP Ozone. This product is working in dry Ozone condition. It can be used in the washing machine, in middle of the process, I mean, after base wash. After applying the product in the machine bath, take out garments, hydro-extraction, dry and followed by dry ozone. It gives medium intensity here, also bleaching. I would like to add one more thing: when we bleach with the ozone, the indigo turns grey and doesn’t give the bright blue look. Here, we have a solution called Deterpal Bluecast. It is a special detergent engineered to bring that grey shade towards bright blue. Really, it is an exciting product.
And the third one can be where we need an aggressive intensity. We promote our PP alternative, Remover IND/J by spray, to get localized aggressive used look.
In line of bleaching, we have Zero PP Smart bleach which is completely Chlorine and Potassium Permanganate free. You can apply based on required shade and effect. And then, finally, the last of our Zero PP package comes OZ-One Powder which is also free from potassium permanganate. You will get random looks but without Potassium Permanganate.
So, these are the two packages we started promoting from the last kingpins from Amsterdam. In 2025, we will also focus on these two solutions. One is Aqualess All-in-One to replace pumic stone and the other one is Zero PP to replace PP completely from the industry.
