Aiming for true circular fashion that takes into account "cradle to grave" from the manufacturing process to the supply process.

(Head Office: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture; President: Shunsuke Managi; hereinafter "aiESG"), the world's first*1 product ESG evaluation and analysis company, and hap Corporation (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Motoi Suzuki; hereinafter "hap"), developer and provider of the COVEROSS® technology, which won the Prime Minister's Award at the 11th Technology Management and Innovation Awards, have entered into a collaboration to develop apparel products that are truly human rights and environmentally friendly. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Motoi Suzuki; hereinafter "hap"), developers and providers of COVEROSS® technology, which was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize at the 11th Technology Management and Innovation Awards, will start collaboration to develop apparel products that are truly human rights and environmentally friendly by making the burden on apparel products, which have a particularly high burden on human rights and the environment, visible.

1 The first evaluation of products and services from the three perspectives of human rights, the environment, and the economy was conducted by the Urban Research Center of Kyushu University. The only ESG evaluation that applies the results of that research is aiESG.

Sustainability in the Apparel Industry

In recent years, there has been a lot of overproduction in the manufacture of apparel products due to oversupply, along with falling prices. For example, data shows that each person purchases 18 pieces of clothing per year and discards 12 of them, which is 1.5 times the amount of clothing that is thrown away. Additionally, there are 25 pieces of clothing per person that are not worn even once a year. Another point that cannot be overlooked is the human rights violations during the manufacturing process and the large burden on the environment. Regarding human rights, the problems include the Rana Plaza collapse accident, which showed poor working conditions, and the cultivation of cotton in violation of human rights. Regarding environmental impact, the amount of water required for production (approximately 2,300 liters per garment, equivalent to about 11 bathtubs) and CO2 emissions (approximately 25.5 kg per garment, equivalent to 255 500-mL PET bottles) are cited (*2).
Therefore, apparel products are currently being mass-produced in excess despite the fact that the manufacturing process imposes significant burdens on human rights and the environment. This is a serious problem for sustainability in the apparel industry.

*2https://www.env.go.jp/policy/sustainable_fashion/

Developing truly sustainable apparel products

By combining the technologies of both companies, hap and MHI have come together to develop a truly sustainable apparel product, from the manufacturing process to the use of the garment.

hap's COVEROSS® technology is an innovation that will change the status quo of oversupply. We aim to develop technologies and services to connect all types of clothing to circular fashion by utilizing this COVEROSS® technology. Meanwhile, we offer aiESG, a service that visualizes ESG burdens in the manufacturing process. This makes it possible to simulate what, from which countries, and how much can be procured to reduce ESG burdens.

By maximizing the strengths of both companies, we will develop apparel products that take human rights and the environment into consideration, from the manufacturing process to the usage process, and even to secondary distribution.

A PR event for this collaboration will be held on Tuesday, May 16, from 11:00 a.m., open to interested companies and media (click here for details and registration).https://aiesg.co.jp/topics/news/0516_hap_pr/ ).

About hap's COVEROSS® technology

COVEROSS®WIZZARD can provide more than 10 multifunctional properties (self-cleaning, antibacterial, antiviral, deodorant, UV-cut, thermal barrier, cool feeling, water absorption and diffusion (reduction of stickiness), anti-transparency, sweat reduction, anti-static, anti-furball, etc.) in a single process by applying photocatalysis. It can be used to At the same time, it maintains high wash resistance while maintaining air permeability and texture, regardless of whether the fabric is made of synthetic or natural fibers. It is also possible to perform "function agent removal," which is necessary for fiber recycling of garments after use.

Therefore, we aim to develop technologies and services that will lead to circular fashion, where every piece of clothing can be used longer and with more care.

About aiESG

We are the first company in the world to offer ESG assessment services on a product-service basis, tracing back the entire supply chain. For example, here is an example of a typical T-shirt analysis It shows how many percent less human rights and environmental impact a cotton T-shirt (blue) has compared to a synthetic fiber T-shirt (orange). It provides information such as 13.21 TP3T less in energy use, but 9.41 TP3T more in working hours under the risk of communicable diseases (*3).

With aiESG, such simulations can be performed for about 3,200 ESG items for all raw materials worldwide. It is also possible to visualize risk hotspots by procurement country. For example, in the previous example, we can see that a large amount of infectious disease risk comes from India, the country from which cotton is sourced.

3 Dengue fever, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis

Comment from Mr. Motoi Suzuki, President of hap Co.

The apparel industry is the second most environmentally burdensome industry in the world after the oil industry, and its supply chain is global and extremely complex. In order to reduce the environmental impact of not only primary products but also secondary products, it is necessary to change the design of apparel products. In addition, we would like to achieve true circular fashion from Japan through aiESG analysis, assessment, and services.

Comments from Shunsuke Managi, President of aiESG, Inc.

aiESG is the world's first service that enables quantitative and scientific ESG assessments at the product level, through the supply chain, and is strong in supply chain optimization. We are very pleased to be working with hap, a leading company in the circular fashion industry. By combining the strengths of both companies, we will strive for truly sustainable fashion from cradle to grave.

About HAP Corporation

HAP Corporation is challenging to "develop human- and earth-friendly clothing and services" with the power of "science and chemistry". Our registered trademark "COVEROSS®" is developed around keywords such as "comfort", "wellness", and "prevention" through joint research by industry, government, and academia in Europe and Japan, and will evolve into next-generation personalized life wear through the use of wearable devices, AI, blockchain, and more.

About aiESG, Inc.

We are a start-up company from Kyushu University that aims to realize a sustainable society through product and service level ESG analysis. Based on years of international and academic ESG research, including UN report representatives, we provide an ESG assessment platform, aiESG, that traces back the entire supply chain.

Click here to visit our corporate website (Japanese only)https://aiesg.co.jp/)

About Us

Company name: aiESG Co.

Head Office: NMF Hakata Ekimae Bldg. 2F, 1-15-20 Hakata Ekimae, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka

President and Representative Director : Shunsuke Managi

Business : ESG analysis business at the product/service level

HP : https://aiesg.co.jp/

Establishment : July 2022

For inquiries regarding this matter, please contact

To: aiESG Corporation, Public Relations

E-mail address: pr@aiesg.co.jp