Denim finishing: discovering Nimbus-Z

With Nimbus innovative system, developed by Garmon, the third wave in denim finishing took the jeans market by surprise with a dramatic change towards absolute sustainability.

The revolutionary Nimbus-z system was launched in 2016. To find out more about it we visited, in the Republic of San Marino, Garmon the company that developed it in collaboration with Novozyme and Tonello,

Creative chemicalis a chemical company that was born in the 80s for the production of detergents for the textile industry. In the same years, they began treating jeans with the practice of stone wash, pumice stone treatment, a typically Italian business up to the year 2000, which shared with Japan the denim polo in the world. In 2005, a first opening to foreign markets, in particular towards Tunisia and Turkey, allowed Garmon.

Garmon to be industrially structured to the true global expansion of 2011 and 2012. “At this point – says Alberto De Conti, CMO of Garmon – we did this question: is it possible to bring a chemical company to the center of the fashion chain? So we founded the company ‘The Italian Job’, the creative arm of Garmon, with its headquarters in San Marino where international brands and retailers come almost daily to choose the exclusive models we develop and show in our showroom.“

So Garmon is a company that associates chemistry with creativity, two fields that seem incompatible, but Alberto De Conti explains why: “We have started developing different business models based on conscious chemistry. In this field we work with medium and small brands at the level of consultancy. But if collaboration is developed with more structured realities, our return is on the sale of chemicals they use for their fabrics. The turnaround started when our customers began bringing their own customers, doing a three-handed, technical and creative job”.

In practice there has been, and is underway, a highly evolving business, so today the chemical company is at the centre of a creative process.

Accompanying us for the factory tour De Conti emphasizes that at the technical level all the major transformations of the last two years ,have been developed with the aim of safer chemistry.

“Our push – he explains – is always striving to develop what the market wants with a chemistry of full respect, with the same – or better – quality, while maintaining the same price.”

He also points out that Garmon chemistry is typically Italian, synonymous of creativity and research: “Our business model is to buy the best raw materials and formulate them. This does not bind us to any supplier. We blend ingredients together and develop the applications.”

In this way, Nimbus-z, the revolutionary third wave of finishing denim, was born.

Going with order denim finishing knew three steps: after pumice stone, still in use but highly polluting due to sludge to be disposed and requiring excessive consumption of water as well as energy, in the 1990s a system based on the application of enzymes that cut microfibers of cotton in the bath, was introduced; it was the second wave. Academic studies suggested the possibility of spraying enzymes in a washing machine, but this method, which actually manages to drastically reduce water consumption, was watched with suspicion by the clothing industry, due to the possible human sensitivity to the enzymes dispersed in the environment. There was therefore some resistance to adopting this method.

Garmon’s R&D department studied to see if it could be possible to have a definitive solution and absolute sustainability: so, Nimbus, the third step was developed.

Let’s go back to De Conti‘s words: “One year ago, we managed to develop a revolutionary process that we called Nimbus, from the name of the clouds, which allows us to use 2 litres of water instead of 150 litres. The market marvelled. So at the beginning of 2017 we managed to develop with Danish Novozyme and denim producer Tonello a process that eliminates the pumice stone and consequently the sludges. We can only use 2 liters of water because we nebulize it in a closed and certified safe system. We are confident that today’s third wave of Nimbus gives us great prospects for design.“

And now the third wave is a reality.

We then visited the show room and the space called “Archive”. A collection, though so we should not call it, of denim garments, jeans and jackets, all made in unique handmade garments by the specialists to offer customers the opportunity to buy a unique and exclusive model. We see them prepare in the creative department, where young people working on models, apply all their creativity, we might say, having fun.