This Mill Has a Flower Competition

When I was visiting US Group in Lahore, Pakistan, a few weeks ago, I kept having the same thought. This is not what most people picture when they think of a mill.

A lot stayed with me from that trip.

I came away thinking about what it means for a manufacturing business to take its responsibilities seriously, not just in theory, but in the details of how it operates day to day.

What struck me first was that this did not feel like the kind of factory many people might imagine when they think about textile production. The spaces were clean, bright, and orderly. Some of the sewing and production rooms even felt more like office environments than factory floors, in the best possible way. There were proper offices, rest spaces, and an overall sense of care in how the environment had been designed. It did not feel chaotic or neglected. It felt considered.

That may sound like a small thing, but it is not. Built environments tell you a lot about what a company believes people deserve.

I was also struck by how many employees had been there for such a long time. In an industry often shaped by turnover, pressure, and disposability, longevity says a lot. It suggests that people are not just passing through and that this is not simply another job. Even my driver, Irfan, bless him, had been with the company for nearly 20 years. There seemed to be real pride, familiarity, and continuity inside the business, which gave the visit a different feeling altogether.

Another thing that stood out was how often the company spoke about giving back, not as a side project, but as part of how they define success. Their motto, “doing well by giving back,” can easily sound like the kind of phrase companies put on a wall. But during the visit, I kept noticing ways that idea appeared to extend beyond branding. One example that stayed with me was their water treatment efforts, which were described not only as serving their own operations, but also as helping clean water for the city. That kind of thinking feels important because it shifts the frame from compliance to contribution.

What also stayed with me was the company’s willingness to look outward and forward at the same time. I saw this in their work with the agricultural university, including efforts around a native local hemp variety that revived heritage seed knowledge rather than defaulting to imported ideas of innovation. There were also trials involving agave fibre, which felt significant for a different reason. Agave felt promising because many species are well adapted to heat and drought, and because its water-saving way of growing makes it an interesting material to explore in a place where resource use really matters.

Some of the most memorable details were also the most unexpected. There was an air drying contraption that caught my attention, partly because it reflected a willingness to think differently, and partly because I am always drawn to the physical poetry of process. You may have seen jeans air drying in a factory before, but US Denim Mills takes it a step further by running them through an exterior tin box that uses the heat of the sun to dry them further. It was such a simple but clever idea, and one that helps reduce how long the jeans need to spend in industrial drying machines.

There were also preparations underway for a flower competition between US Denim Mills and US Apparel to see who could decorate their factory most beautifully. Hundreds of pots were waiting to be distributed around the facility when I was there, and my friend later sent me pictures of the results. Please enjoy below :)

It may seem like an unusual thing to remember from an industrial visit, but that is exactly why it matters. It hinted at culture, participation, and a kind of workplace personality you do not often associate with mills.

What interested me more than any single machine was the wider logic of the place. Yes, there was advanced equipment, and yes, there were heritage shuttle looms producing beautiful selvedge, but what felt more telling was the way innovation seemed to be tied to responsibility. The visit gave the impression of a company thinking not only about production and product, but also about water, place, and people. From what I saw and heard, that included efforts around groundwater recharge, which helps replenish aquifers and support longer-term water availability rather than treating water as something to simply extract and discard. To me, it felt like a grown-up version of that simple idea we are taught as kids: if you take something, put something back.

What came through repeatedly was that they seemed to pay attention to what their people actually wanted and needed, and to see that as part of building a better business rather than an extra. One example of that was a weekly coffee chat led by the head of CSR, where anyone could come with suggestions, challenges, or ideas for solutions, and where those conversations were taken seriously enough to shape action. That may be harder to measure than machinery or output, but in some ways it says more.

That is part of why I came away feeling that US Denim Mills is one of the most interesting mills I have visited. Not because impressive technology alone is enough, but because the visit suggested something larger. It raised the question of what it looks like to build an industrial business that is serious about quality, serious about people, and serious about its role in the community and environment around it.

That is the question I kept returning to in Lahore. And in different ways, across infrastructure, culture, research, water, and the way the company seemed to respond to the needs of its people, US Group felt like it was genuinely trying to answer it.

Until next time friends, always be curious and stay diligent xx