On18/06/2016, the students of International Bachelor pathway (15BAFV01, 15BBAV01 and 15BBAV02) had an opportunity to visit the apparel factories Saitex International at Bien Hoa’s industrial zone, Dong Nai Province
Upon arriving, we were greeted by three executive managers with a presentation about Saitex’s history, products, customers, and quite unconventionally, the company’s strong commitment to sustainability. “Our company puts great effort in using sustainable materials and energy sources while limiting the waste produced,” said one of the manager, “…In fact, our operation emits zero amount of water waste to the environment.”
Then, our students were led through two of their main factories to see Saitex’s major operational chains of producing jeans, but not after advised to take no pictures or videos due to the sensitive issue of copying and plagiarism. Such worry was not exaggerated: many of the production processes were highly automated with modern machines. For instance, laser machines were employed to systematically burned the jeans to create the cool looking white stripes that can be seen on our modern jeans. To our awe, there was even a laboratory filled with chemists in white blouses using several chemicals to test the products, just like in a movie.
In the end, we all took a group picture together in front of a decorative wall that have many soldiers helmets hanging. Those helmets were the idea of Saitex’s founder, according to the managers, to honor the people who fell in the Vietnam war, and to remind us of the bloody conflicts between the two countries in the past. Finally, we took off to head back to NIIE with our heads still amazed about how much efforts and technologies were put to make the comfortable jeans that lots of us are using today.
