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Fashion retailer C&A is to expand digital and sustainable production in the heart of Europe with the help of a new innovation factory in Germany.

The Factory for Innovation in Textiles (FIT) will be established in Mönchengladbach this autumn, and will focus on technology, CO2-neutral production and more sustainable fashion.

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Incorporating the latest technology, next-generation sustainable fashion will be developed and produced at the new site. For the implementation, C&A is currently working with the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, the Textile Academy NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia), RWTH Aachen University and various start-up companies, among others.

“Together with our partners, we want to set new standards in textile manufacturing. We are thrilled to be producing in the heart of Europe again. C&A’s FIT will combine the digitalisation of processes with sustainability, creating new standards for global production,” says Giny Boer, CEO of C&A Europe.

C&A’s FIT will initially focus on the production of jeans. The retailer says it is one of the European market leaders in this area and has set new standards in recent years: in 2018 the company developed the world’s first jeans with Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Gold-level certification. This was followed in 2020 by the Platinum certification of the Beluga jeans.

The company now wants to continue its sustainable success story in C&A’s FIT by integrating highly automated processes in the sewing room and laundry.

C&A’s FIT, together with the Textile Academy NRW, will hire and train around 100 co-workers for the modern, CO2-neutral site. Initially, around 400,000 jeans per year will be produced in Mönchengladbach, to be expanded to 800,000 at a later stage. The first trousers will be available in 2022.

“C&A’s FIT will be more than just a lab for prototypes. It’s about producing in larger quantities. Sustainable fashion cannot just be a niche product,” adds Boer.

Rolf Königs, chairman of the Association of the Rhenish Textile and Clothing Industry, adds: “C&A’s investment underlines that the textile industry here – in the heart of Europe – is once again generating new impulses.”

Textile production and trade once flourished in the Lower Rhine area. Now, after decades in which significant parts of the textile industry left the region, new opportunities are emerging for the technology-, academia- and research-focused area.

“With C&A, we have a company that has over the years led numerous initiatives in the area of sustainability,” says Professor Dr Maike Rabe, head of the Research Institute for Textiles and Clothing at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. “We have been in an intensive exchange for a long time and are proud that the industrial workplace of the future is becoming a reality right on our doorstep. Students and researchers from Mönchengladbach and Aachen are thrilled: fast fashion is out, FIT fashion is in.”