What all of this does perhaps illustrate is the continued need for sensible, careful evaluation of the implications of the unilateral tightening of textile industry MRSL’s rather than knee-jerk responses to NGO’s in a bid for improved PR ratings.
And while we understand the Detox Catwalk will be launched at or near to the European Outdoor Show next month, Greenpeace remains tightlipped about the precise contents of its report. But we do know for certain that at least two companies – Benetton and Valentino – have failed to hit major milestones regarding their own Detox commitments. Both companies had set timelines to completely eliminate the use or presence of Per and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in their supply chains by December 2015. However, both have recently – and publicly – reported that while the presence of PFCs in their supply chains continues to fall, tests on materials, products and water show their supply chains are yet to be completely PFC-free.
As we have consistently pointed out in Ecotextile News, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Soilds (TSS) and pH along with wastewater discharge temperature cannot be reflected in MRSL documents – yet these problems do far more damage to the aquatic environment and on a much larger scale.
If retailers and brands really intend to reduce the impact of textile production on the environment, they need to refocus their attention away from MRSL’s and towards the bigger pollution problems which are technically easier to solve.
In the coming months we’ll be doing more investigative work on this issue and publishing our findings in subsequent issues of Ecotextile News.
