Six Suppliers Team Up at Ecomondo 2026 to Connect the Denim Supply Chain

Six companies covering different stages of denim and sportswear production are presenting themselves at Ecomondo 2026 in Rimini not as six separate exhibitors, but as one connected chain. The initiative, called Inside the Making and curated by communication group Menabò, runs 3–6 November at the Rimini Expo Centre in Hall D2, according to TexData International.

The line-up reads like a garment's bill of materials: C&S manufactures denim garments in Umbertide and holds GOTS, GRS, OCS and RCS certifications; ACM supplies buttons, rivets and trims, including GRS-certified recycled metal; Jeanologia brings laser and ozone finishing that replaces hand sanding and cuts water and chemical use; Green Lab handles garment dyeing and washing with the same low-impact toolkit; NextPrinting adds digital pigment printing; and Menabò turns the process data into claims a brand can actually publish.

The timing is not accidental. Since 27 September 2026, EU rules under Directive (EU) 2024/825 have been phasing in through national law, requiring environmental claims in consumer-facing communication to be substantiated. A "low-water jean" statement made by a brand is only as strong as the data coming from the dye house and the wash house — two stages the brand does not own. The exhibitors argue that resource savings have to be measured across the chain, because a chemical choice at dyeing changes what the finishing stage can claim later.

For wholesale buyers, the practical takeaway is to ask each supplier not just for its own certificate, but for the process data hand-offs between stages: what the mill reports on dyeing, what the wash house reports on water and energy, and whether both can be evidenced to the same standard.

Source: TexData International, "Inside the Making connects denim and sportswear supply chains at Ecomondo 2026", November 2026.