Higg Index
The Changing Markets report also set its sights on industry initiatives such as the Higg Index and the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), which both received criticism for being “a certification body which takes a ‘self-assessment’ approach that has a lack of transparency,” says Urbancic, “so as an outsider it’s impossible to know what the Higg Index has achieved. It’s a good thing the Higg wants transparency by 2020, but what does this mean? It’s optional for brands to disclose their suppliers or even to use the Higg Index, and it’s all based on self-assessment.”
Yet it should be made clear that like the ZDHC, the SAC is not a certification organisation. Ahead of the report’s release, we did put the criticism on self-assessment and lack of transparency to Jason Kibbey, the CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, who said: “Firstly, we are not a certification scheme and we are preparing for the time when we do release information to the general public that it will be of the highest credibility and quality. But for now, we are only a B2B tool for the industry with a road-map to include consumer-facing options in the future.
“We would never allow self-assessed information to be attached to a product as part of a brands claim,” he continued. “That information is typically for B2B useage. We agree that transparency is critical and we want to make sure that transparency is also credible and comparable and uses verified information. So, we still feel that self-assessments have their place in a business context but not in a business to consumer context.”
Other organisations including Oeko-tex and Made-By were accused of a ‘lack of completeness’ due to ‘offering a variety of different certifications’. However, once again, MADE-BY is not a certification programme. “We are not and do not pretend to be a certification standard or label,” said Holly Browne, Head of sustainable Product at MADE-BY. “Through a mix of consultancy and partnerships, we help brands and retailers to understand their sustainability related impacts and make clear progress towards becoming more sustainable. We use tools such as (our) ‘Mode Tracket’ tool to assess and verify this progress … we believe that all brands should be given a chance to make a difference, no matter where they are starting from, and we are currently developing additional tools that can take our support for industry change to scale in practical, cost effective ways.”
Of the initiatives Changing Markets assessed, Global organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and the EU Ecolabel seem to have came off best, despite EU Ecolabel being criticised for having not included water pollution in viscose production as part of its assessment.
Given the blunt nature with which Changing Markets has heaped criticism onto certain initiatives, some of its recommendations leave a lot to be desired in terms of clarity of communication.
In addition to claiming the worst initiatives should be scrapped, statements which include recommending that “governments should take the lead,” and that “most schemes should take a holistic approach” have certainly not offered too much in terms of pragmatic advice for companies that is not already out there – or how to implement improved practices.
Having said that, the main conclusion of this report that certification has lost its way and that its “contribution to creating a more sustainable world is minute”, is perhaps a word of warning to the growing number of eco-textile standards out there. Label flood will at best lead to consumer confusion and at worst allow some brands to pick and choose which avenues of sustainability are in their best interests to follow. The harmonisation of these standards is now long overdue.
While at this stage we can’t agree with the reports calls for the abolition of “the least ambitious schemes” we do agree there is an urgent need for the significant reform of others, and back its assertion that voluntary certification schemes should never replace strong governmental and international regulation.
We also agree that some voluntary certification schemes can indeed lower the bar so that they can certify higher volumes of product – a compelling reason for reform of the certification sector as a whole.
All the initiatives and their respective policies listed in the Changing Markets reports are detailed on the Textile Standards and Legislation website.
The full Changing Markets report can be viewed HERE.
