Business

Greenpeace ranking reveals fashion companies’ action on toxic pollution

Greenpeace East Asia has released its Detox Catwalk, an online platform assessing how effectively major fashion brands are removing toxic chemicals from their supply chains and tackling water pollution. Inditex (the company that owns Zara), Puma and Valentino join 13 other Detox leaders in this year’s ranking, while sports brands Nike and LiNing are labelled Greenwashers for their failure to take credible action to Detox.

“The fashion companies that have committed to Detox over the past four years represent approximately 10% of the estimated US$1.7 trillion global annual (2013) apparel and footwear market. We believe this momentum is creating a new standard in sustainable fashion: sparking a transparency revolution and proving that zero discharge of hazardous chemicals is within our reach by 2020. It’s time greenwashers like Nike and LiNing come clean and join the wave for toxic free fashion.” said Detox campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, Yixiu Wu.

The Detox Catwalk assesses how committed companies have performed against key criteria; these include how they are working to eliminate known hazardous chemicals, including hormone disrupting chemicals such as PFCs, nonylphenols and phthalates, from their products and processes, and what steps they are taking towards full supply chain transparency.

"Increased supply chain transparency is good practice for sound chemical management, which will help decision makers draft and promote solid policies in China. Once companies are transparent, the public then has a chance to monitor what's happening in the industry - they have a chance to take part in the risk management of chemicals. In fact, it promotes good governance of this issue," said Liu Jianguo, Associate Professor at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at Peking University.

The four-year Detox campaign is changing the way companies are working with their suppliers and is starting to shift chemical regulations in manufacturing countries. For instance:

1. In China, harmful chemicals such as PFCs, nonylphenols and phthalates will start being regulated, following their inclusion in the 12th Five-Year Plan for the Prevention and Control of Environmental Risk of Chemicals.

2. In Indonesia, NPEs will be regulated and monitored with their addition to a list of hazardous and toxic materials.

3. In the European Union, harmful chemical groups (including phthalates, PFCs and NPEs) are being added to a list of chemicals that the EU hopes to phase out and replace with substitutes.

The urgency to tackle water pollution is gaining momentum in countries such as China where almost half of the surface water is not drinkable and 64% of underground drinking water reserves in major cities are seriously polluted. China’s textile industry alone is responsible for 10% of the country’s industrial wastewater emission.

The Greenpeace Detox campaign demands fashion brands to commit to zero discharge of all hazardous chemicals by 2020 and require their suppliers to disclose the releases of toxic chemicals from their facilities to communities at the site of the water pollution.