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Coffee grounds have helped turned a once struggling Taiwan firminto a thriving business - one that reports annual earnings of morethan $6.6 million. Since 2009, Singtex Industrial Company of New Taipei City has takenthe waste from two major coffee store chains, for free, and used itto make shoes, jackets, pants and handbags. The company says coffee grounds cut odors, help fabrics dry fasterthan normal and resist ultraviolet light. The came from theexisting use of coffee grounds as odor eaters, says Singtex brandmanager Chiang Po-wei. People normally consider coffee grounds as garbage, he says, butthey can actually be used effectively to cut odors in shoecabinets, even refrigerators and smoking areas. Chiang says takingthat idea to the next level, Singtex spent four years carrying outresearch to make it work in fabrics. Singtex was founded in 1989 and ventured into China in the 1990s tocut manufacturing costs until the company found that its poorlytrained workers were making low-quality fabrics. After pulling outof China, Chief Executive Officer Jason Chen decided to go upmarket, using his staff of 220 to make more expensive fabrics witha pro-environmental focus. He has done that since 1994. One day when Chen and his wife, who is also his business partner,were drinking coffee, they began wondering whether the groundscould be used in fabrics to absorb odors. In 2006, the firm sstaff began to do research. Today Singtex uses coffee grounds as 1.5 percent of its fabrics,with polyester as the main material. That calls for 500 kilogramsof grounds per day at its Taiwan factory, which produced 10 millionyards of fabric last year. That number is rising as the firm s 100clients want more coffee in their clothes. Clients include theshoemaker Asics, outdoor clothier Timberland and women s underweardesigner Wacoal. Sasa Kung, the marketing manager for Timberland in Taipei, saysstores around the world have raised curiosity by displayingclothing tags marked S.Cafe, the Singtex label. Timberlandstores in Asia sell 2,000 coffee-enhanced items per year. She says customers find it interesting to learn that coffee can beused in material for clothing or shoes, which increases theirwillingness to buy. She explains to customers that coffee groundsare already worked into the fabric and that the odor resistance anddilution capabilities are always inside. The only catch is that no one can smell the coffee. It Is not evenvisible on the clothes. The ingredient also has little effect onprices, the Timberland manager says. But it has brought Singtex somuch of a profit that the company will not state the amount in fearof stirring up jealous rivals. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Wavecom GMS GPRS , China GPS GSM Module, and more. For more , please visit 8 Port GSM Modem today!
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