IN Conversation with James Krueger, CEO,Consolidated Pathways
PS: What is Consolidated Pathways all about?
James Krueger : The mission of Consolidated Pathways is to provide consumer product companies with consumer driven features that enhance the value of the consumer product while meeting or exceeding the demands of the consumer in a manner that promotes safety for the consumer, sustainability for our planet and profitability for our customers, vendors and Consolidated Pathways.
PS: What type of products the company is dealing into ?
James Krueger : Our core business initiative is a primary component of the Consolidated Pathways mission.
Providing products that enhance sustainability
Considering the significant advances that the textile industry has made in sustainability over the last five to ten years, Consolidated Pathways has spent time evaluating where the next great impact on the sustainability of textile products can come from.
In that evaluation it has become apparent that the actual use cycle of textiles is the area that can produce the next significant impact for more sustainable products while meeting a current unmet need for consumers.
PS: What is the strategy to combat these tough times?
James Krueger : The global pandemic has shifted the public narrative from sustainability to health protection.
The same technologies from Consolidated Pathways that provide enhanced textile protection from the microorganisms that are in today’s headlines also provide textiles with the ability to be more sustainable.
It is apparent that today’s consumer is focused on health retention and those trends are bound to continue in the post-pandemic markets.
Consolidated Pathways technologies are currently playing an active role in protecting Personal Protective Equipment as well as consumer textiles and our continued development in these areas will continue to be driving force for our future.
PS: How do you think apparel, fashion and textile business will change post Covid era?
James Krueger: Consumers have always been interested in understanding how the products they purchase will impact them.
During the pandemic consumers have become more skilled at researching products before making their purchasing decisions.
This trend will continue in the post-Covid era and will drive global brands and retailers to become even more consumer driven and provide features that truly deliver consumer desired benefits.
When you consider the heightened concern consumers have obtained for increased hygiene during the pandemic a new normal has emerged that aligns with the benefits that the technologies from Consolidated Pathways and the technologies we are currently developing provide for the consumer.
Consumers are much more informed today than they were fifteen years ago and the more the consumer learns about what is possible the more they want to obtain it.
PS: Do you think India will gain advantage of China’s changing image and sourcing of apparel and textiles will be drawn towards India?
James Krueger : We have certainly witnessed a significant amount of movement from China to other textile producing regions in the last year.
I think that the textile industry in India has positioned itself to capture a significant portion of that movement and, yes, I do think that India will gain an advantage in this area.
PS: What type of products are fetching more demand these days?
James Krueger: Studies are showing that consumers are spending their money on necessities and that the definition of a necessity has evolved during the pandemic.
One year ago hand sanitiser, facemasks and disinfectants for the home may not have even been on that list – but they are today.
Psychologists say that if you repeat something 21 times it becomes a habit.
Consumers have been conditioned by health organisations, the government and the media to wash their hands often, use sanitisers on their hands and the surfaces they touch as protective measures to reduce their exposure to microorganisms.
This health-focused mindset among consumers has quickly become a way of life. We are seeing those newly formed habits cross into the textiles they purchase whether in apparel or home fashions.
Retailers have recognised this trend and are now actively requiring antimicrobial protection for the textile products they sell.
PS: It is being said that fashion will become faster and sustainable in coming times, what is your opinion on the same?
James Krueger : There are so many ways to define “faster” and “sustainable”. In many circles “faster” isn’t something that is conducive to being “sustainable”.
However, there are some definite areas where the term faster could actually describe the outcome of a more sustainable textile.
For instance, as much as 60% of the energy and water used by an item of clothing is expended after the clothing is purchased and enters the wash and wear cycle of consumer use.
By focusing on extending the use of a textile between washings consumers would be able to spend less time on their laundry and more time doing the things they enjoy – increasing their ability to get more accomplished during the same time period – in other words – faster.
When examined from an environmental perspective, extending the number of uses between washings can have a dramatic impact on the carbon footprint of textiles during the consumer use phase.
Some appliances, like the hi-efficiency washers used in the United States, can actually increase odors in textiles due to the higher bacterial contamination that occurs at lower temperatures and lower water use levels in these machines.
With this in mind, odour controlling apparel and home fashions could save a tremendous amount of resources during their use.
PS: Please share a brief profile about the company and your role in the same?
James Krueger :If apparel were produced with built-in odour control the washing frequency of those goods could be greatly reduced and CO2 emission savings for those goods would be directly related to the amount of extended wears achievable between launderings.
Using the activewear case study above as an example, if a consumer were to extend the use of their activewear from a single use before laundering to seven wears/uses before laundering, the CO2 emissions attributable to the consumer use phase of that activewear would be 1/7th of the previous CO2 emissions generated.
This could result in an 86% savings in CO2 emissions, water consumption and time.
Consolidated Pathways is passionate about. We firmly believe that our products can empower consumers that are concerned about global warming and their environment but, until now, have been in a quandary about what they can do about it.
As CEO for Consolidated Pathways my role is to move the company vision and mission forward.
To provide a platform that allows our team to optimize their performance, and most importantly, to form partnerships that benefit consumers, the planet and our partners.
