How can you tell if a clothing item is actually sustainable?
What makes clothing “sustainable”? Amid heightened interest in eco-friendly fashion, clothing companies and footwear brands are increasingly marketing their products as sustainable.
The legal qualifications for using the term “sustainable” are still quite vague, which causes confusion among consumers as well as people in the textile and footwear industry.
In this article, Andrew Hudson, Managing Director at Eurofins | BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd, discusses how companies can assess the life cycle and environmental impact of clothing and footwear, and validate certain sustainability claims.
While there is existing and proposed legislation in certain jurisdictions aimed at clarifying product labelling and marketing when it comes to sustainability claims, there is a lack of shared understanding within the textile and footwear industry regarding what makes a product “sustainable”.
Some companies tout their materials, which might be organic, recycled, or bio-based (originating from plants), as sustainable. Or, companies might support initiatives related to sustainability, such as regenerative farming and tree planting programmes to offset their carbon footprint.
Beyond legal action, there are major risks associated with overstating “green” features of products or falsely claiming that products are sustainable, including falling foul of ‘greenwashing’ and receiving negative media coverage and losing brand loyalty.
So, what does true sustainability look like when it comes to fashion? We asked Andrew Hudson, Managing Director at Eurofins | BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd.
“Sustainable fashion is an ethical approach towards designing, sourcing, manufacturing, testing, selling, and delivering clothing and footwear in a way that minimises negative impacts on people and the planet along the entire value chain.”
“It’s not just about the materials used in products but about the entire supply chain from raw material extraction through manufacturing and consumer use, all the way to final disposal. It also refers to fair labour practices, the chemicals used in production processes, if the product is recyclable or biodegradable, and so much more”, Andrew adds.
Some fashion brands that wish to validate sustainability claims for certain products conduct in-depth life cycle assessments to determine the impact of the products on people and the planet. However, it can take months to accurately conduct life cycle assessments, and they are usually very expensive to carry out.
For instance, when it comes to shoes, large footwear companies might launch hundreds or even thousands of new shoe designs each year, so it can be costly and time-consuming to carry out traditional life cycle assessments for all of these products.
That’s why Eurofins | BLC Leather Technology Centre created the online Footwear Impact Calculator that assesses the environmental impact of shoes, or an entire footwear collection, within minutes!
We asked Andrew about this new online tool: “The software was created in partnership with Netherlands-based company PRé Sustainability, and it is based on the EU’s Product Environmental Footprint guidelines.”
“Powered by SimaPro®, this software is built specifically for footwear brands,” Andrew explains. “It can help shoe designers and manufacturers to quickly see where they can become more sustainable by making improvements in their shoe designs, manufacturing processes, and logistics systems.”
Eurofins | BLC’s offerings are not limited to helping footwear brands assess the impact of their shoe designs. In fact, Eurofins | BLC offers a huge variety of sustainability and risk-mapping supply chain services.
Risk-Mapped Supply Chain
Eurofins | BLC’s industry-leading traceability product, Risk-Mapped Supply Chain, helps apparel, footwear, furniture, and jewellery companies to understand the Environmental, Social and Governance performance of their supply chain, ensure compliance with relevant legislation, identify supply chain risks, and implement solutions to improve supply chain sustainability and efficiency.
Vegan Verification of Materials
Eurofins | BLC can establish whether any animal products or by-products have been used in textile products, so that brands and retailers can validate their ‘animal-free’ and ‘vegan friendly’ claims.
Disintegration and Biodegradability Testing
Unfortunately, the majority of fashion waste ends up in landfills. Apparel and footwear can remain there for more than 200 years before decomposing, and chemicals or dyes in the products can leach to the ground and cause environmental damage.
Eurofins | BLC conducts disintegration and biodegradability testing to determine how long textiles take to decompose and validates biodegradability claims for clothing.
Microplastics Testing and Consulting
Many garments and synthetic materials have the potential to shed microplastics when washed or rinsed in water. With global microplastic contamination becoming one of the most important environmental discussions of our time, Eurofins | BLC and its partner laboratories offer industry-leading microplastic testing solutions, and are accredited by The Microfibre Consortium to perform Quantification of fibre release from fabrics during domestic laundering
Chem-MAP® Manufacturing Restricted Substance List Assessment System
Eurofins | BLC works with chemical companies, manufacturers, and retailers across the textile, leather, synthetic, and coatings industries to prevent harmful chemicals from entering the supply chain. The ultimate goal is to protect workers, consumers, and the environment from toxic chemicals.