Step Two
Secondly, the NRDC wants retailers and brands to banish the ‘easiest’ chemicals at the ‘easiest’ locations first.
“Start at your vertically integrated facilities. Vertically integrated facilities are the easiest targets, since apparel companies have on-going direct contract relationships with these factories. Fortunately, these facilities often represent large and important strategic suppliers as well.”
As for the chemicals, Greer said that some of those in the Greenpeace (Detox) categories are already largely gone. “(These are) on what I call the ‘dead chemical list’, and those should be explicitly prohibited right away,” she said, “Chlorobenzenes and chlorophenols, as well as azo dyes which form prohibited amines, have been on the Restricted Substance Lists for responsible brands for some time and are thought to be largely out of use in the textile industry. Brands should commit to a 2014 firm phase-out of these chemicals that are already out of use.”
Similarly, she added, the brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, chlorinated solvents, and short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCP) should prove relatively easy to phase down. “A 2015 phase out goal for these three categories would perhaps be feasible. Those chemicals/formulations without currently viable alternatives should be scheduled as the last to go to give time for research to take place.”
Step three
The NRDC is also suggesting the use of the ’80:20’ rule to gear the commitments up to scale quickly. “Apparel companies rightly point to the hundreds of factories and fabric mills that supply their goods as a key stumbling block to rapid implementation of any new rule book,” she said. “However, most agree that if they look, it is a much, much smaller universe of manufacturing facilities that provide the bulk of production.” Greer goes on to say that apparel brands should target the facilities that ‘matter the most first’, then move to the smaller operators later. “They should develop 80/20 plans: plans that initially target 80% of production, 80% of cotton/blend production, 80% of denim production.”
