Make Cotton Sustainable

NEWS REPORT / GRIST

The Green Index For Apparels

Wouldn't it be really convenient for green shoppers if every piece of clothing came with a number that told how green it is? A group of apparel companies recently formed what they call ‘Sustainable Apparel Coalition’ to focus on making an innovative tool that could give a number to an item of clothi

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ng based on its sustainability.

The members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition include apparel giants such as Adidas, Arvind Mills, C&A, Duke University, Esprit, Esquel, Marks & Spencer, Timberland, Gap Inc., Patagonia etc. These companies are planning to develop a database that would track the impact of a garment on environment at every level of production and on the basis of that, give a sustainability score to it. With the help of this score, they want to help individual apparel companies clean up their supply chain. The score would be based on a number of factors like energy efficiency, and labor practices, cotton growth, dye, and packaging.

According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, Americans spent roughly $340 billion on clothing and shoes last year, which is about 25 percent of the global market, and virtually all of it came from somewhere else. Therefore it is not easy to study the supply chain by an individual company on its own.

Sustainable Apparel Coalition plans to focus on water use efficiency, minimization of chemical constituents of water discharges associated with manufacturing of apparel products, minimization of energy use, creation of apparel products with low carbon footprints with the help of technology among others. It will also stress on the importance of a workplace that is fair and safe.

This initiative is hoped to raise awareness among organisations, designers and those who can make the most difference: consumers. Jeffrey Swartz, the chief executive of Timberland recently said to New York Times , “This is really filling a void. The government has standards for miles per gallon on a car, but we have no real standards for clothing. This will ultimately put the power in the hands of the consumers, because the apparel industry is saying out loud, ‘We’re going to find a way to disclose to you what’s behind this purchase decision — beyond color, size and fit ”.

In an interview with Tom Philpott of Grist, Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia said, “I'm convinced that most of the damage done to the planet is done unintentionally. A lot of people don't want to intentionally be evil like that, but they just don't know. Given the choice, I think they'll make the right decisions. You get five pairs of jeans in front of you, one is a 2 [on a 1-10 sustainability scale], and one is a 10, and you zap your little iPhone on the barcode to find that out, you'll probably buy the 10. Without information, jeans are jeans, they're all the same. I think it's going to be a pretty powerful tool for consumers to use.”

To read a full report: Sustainable Apparel Coalition delivers the eco-skinny on your skinny jeans