It’s not news that there exist many, many labels out there that hope to convey low-risk or sustainability credentials to consumers (B2C) and/or buyers (B2B).
Some of these are indeed so specialised, or hidden within the larger context, that indeed few people have seen or taken note of it.
One such label is the Greenguard certification, which is focused entirely onto remedying negative health impacts in interior spaces: from furniture, to interior textiles, air filters, adhesives, flooring and floor finishes etc.
Detox has been a repeat topic on this blog. Most recently after my visit in May to Performance Days, but also previously.
While slowly but surely more and more brands (17 at the time of writing) – and retailers – have signed a Detox Solution Commitment with Greenpeace, and hence work in some way or other with ZHDC (Road map to Zero), a key threshold was passed event most recently: With the Italian fabric mill Canepa, the first manufacturer has taken the pledge.
The Higg Index is an apparel and footwear industry self-assessment standard for assessing environmental and social sustainability throughout the supply chain.
The Higg Index 1.0 was released on June 26, 2012.
With Sao Paulo Fashion Week just closed I am here to write (again) about Brazilian fashion.
This time it is about an interesting project I got to know of personally, Projeto Contem, a private and independent initiative.
Projeto Contem is both a brand and a network of entrepreneurs working in textile and fashion as well as in food, beauty, design, arts, music and cinema.
At the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2012 the NICE Code of Conduct and Manual was, in collaboration with the UN Global Compact, officially launched. A review of this document, and the impact it may, or not, have onto the fashion industry it is targeting.
Ever heard of EMAS, the European Eco Management and Audit Schema? No? This is a brief introduction to what it is, with links to further resources.
What means ethical in the fashion business? The lack of 1 widely accepted label is an issue. Yet: The principle problem is the lack of a consensus of what ethical business practises really are.
The Cradle to Cradle (C2C) idea has been around for a good decade now, longer if we’d track it right back to its inception. The first C2C fabric was developed sometime in the early 2000s, and flies now around the world as upholstery fabric on the A380 Airbus models.
The UN Global Compact (GC) report published at the beginning of September 2013, and which draws a conclusion on its achievements since 2007 (it was launched in 2000), shows that there is a behaviour-versus-statement gap at corporations. This is worrying.
Oeko-Tex is, by numbers of products availale, both B2B as well as B2C, the most widely-used eco-label for textiles globally.
What most people aren’t quite aware of is, that Oeko-Tex offers 2 fairly substantially different certifications
Barcodes, RFID tags, and QR codes have each introduced a new era of on-product information distribution and acquisition.
In this article I would like to look at a family of digital solution components that many brands and manufacturers will already use and be reliant on, and that – if integrated – could be leveraged to provide full-depth traceability.
India, the largest producer of organic cotton in the world is all set to have an Indian Standard for Organic Textiles (ISOT) of its own. The unique selling proposition (USP) of this standard is that it will cover the life cycle of the cotton fibre right from crop to clothing. This is different to GOTS which is primarily concerned with the growing stage of cotton, and only includes minimum regulations for the subsequent manufacturing stages.
From the Indian perspective, GOTS does not permit to maintain traceability and integrity of organic textiles.
In a recent blog post, we referred specifically to ‘eco’ labels that you may find on an outdoor product – or its hang-tag. Of course the key question is: what labels that you may encounter when shopping for alpine kit, are (reasonably) trustworthy?
Here an overview.
n this post, I’ll be looking at the CSC Responsible Source standard, which aims very clearly at the issue of (un)ethical, (in)transparent supply chains. The standard exists for 2 very specific area of expertise: precious gems and metals; and man-made fibres and textiles.
True Cost Accounting is – while far from sufficient – a step forward in the sustainability discussion, beyond the fashion industry. Let's look hence a bit close into what the three large apparel industry initiatives in this area are really about.
Large corporations now habitually report on their sustainability achievements, have resource efficiency programmes firmly implemented into their operations, and are investing to make their enterprises ‘future proof’.
But what needs to happen for SMEs to do the same? After all they make up way over 80% of national economies ...
Every year at the end of January, the Future Fabrics Expo opens its door. In addition to over 5000 'better; fabrics, lectures and more, we collaborated to created an information poster on retailers' sustainability standards.
In an earlier post I asked: How can business, a business, downscale the Doughnut and make it operational?
In this post I look at three tools that praise themselves of being either part, or even all, of the support a business needs on the journey to integrate the Doughnut Economics concepts. Namely: Science-based Targets (SBTs), the B Impact Assessment(BIA), and the Future Fit Business Benchmark (FFBBM).
What are their fundamental differences and similarities?
Are they indeed a tool to help on the path to keeping within the Doughnut boundaries?
After some results at the COP in Vancouver, as well as efforts by the TNFD (Task Force for nature-based financial disclosure) – we finally (!) got the first ever Science -Based Targets for Nature (SBTN).
It is a first release, however. So the question obviously is, how do these targets address the 5 key drivers of biodiversity erosion? Are the SBTNs worth their salt?
Measuring Biodiversity, in terms of baseline (status quo), progress, and deliverable targets, is not a simple thing. Collateral damages are a serious risk.At the same time though, some companies use outcomes of tools, which where never intended to deal at all with biodiversity, as proxy vehicles. This of course raises the question: Where are we with tools, programmes, and measurement systems for biodiversity? Hereafter a look across what I found to be having (some) teeth - also in comparison to the more popular climate change topic. These are: TNFD, SBTN, as well as two management tools that might be helpful, FFFBB and BIA.
Ask: If you are aware of others initatives 'with teeth' as of of writing (November 2021): do let me know and I’d be happy to list them also. Thank you!
