For companies with a global supply chain, managing
compliance on a country-by-country basis is very time consuming and risky.
Local regulations can change without warning and can also be out of line with
the latest medical knowledge and societal values.
This is how global standards come into play. They can
remove the variability and complexity along the textile value chain in
different countries, and ensure that any country’s sustainability standards are
met no matter where textiles are made.
“Sustainability
does not recognize geographic borders. A sustainable global textile supply
chain can’t exist if factories pollute the waters in one country or people are
treated unfairly in another,” said Marc Sidler, Group CMO of TESTEX, a global
testing institute. “A truly
sustainable textile industry requires a global standard for environmental and
social responsibility that raises the bar wherever textile products are made.”
TESTEX took part in the
Fashion Summit 2018 on September 7 to discuss the topic of “Global Standards:
How Do We Achieve Less Variability And Less Complexity” in today’s fast-paced retail market that requires
companies to have tremendous flexibility in order to respond to opportunities
in a cost-effective and timely manner.
Complexity and variability are intricately linked in
the textile industry. Complexity is a significant characteristic of the textile
and apparel industry and encompasses the vast number of SKUs, suppliers,
manufacturing countries, retailers, and consumer demands that make up the
market. Variability is a component of that complexity and is primarily
introduced by product safety, environmental, and worker safety ordinances that
can differ across the countries and regions in which products are made or sold.
According to Mr Sidler, global standards remove the
complexity involved with qualifying new resources quickly and with confidence.
Global standards also open up options and flexibility when sourcers and
manufacturers can be sure that adding a new factory to their supply chain won’t
undermine their sustainability standards.
“It’s important to take a long term outlook on sustainability
in the textile industry. There are no simple answers,” Mr Sidler said. “It
requires significant planning, investment, and ongoing improvement. Global
standards can help simplify that planning process by defining the rules of
engagement for all parties who choose to participate in a more sustainable
textile industry.”
A
170-year-old Swiss company headquartered in Zurich, TESTEX is a member
institute of the OEKO-TEX® Association and the official representative in
Australia, Canada, the P.R. China, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Switzerland, South Korea, Hong Kong region and Taiwan region.
The group
tests and certifies textile products based on global standards such as ECO
PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX®, which is designed to address the specific challenges
chemical manufacturers face in their efforts to comply with sustainability
initiatives. ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® is accepted as an
indicator of ZDHC MRSL conformance Level 1 and Level 3 within the ZDHC Gateway.
As
circular economy is a big trend in society, the MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® with
its traceable label offers increased transparency to customers.
TESTEX is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It has recently joined the ZDHC Roadmap to Zero Programme, aiming to act as a link between its
customers and the programme’s signatory brands, thereby creating added-value.
“Sustainability isn’t a trend, it is an attitude! Only
if the whole supply chain addresses the challenges we create a big impact to
the environment which is urgently needed,” Mr Sidler said.
A long term outlook is necessary because changing the
industry’s manufacturing base is a long term proposition, he added.
“We can’t risk fixing one sustainability issue while
creating 10 others. Again, by using global standards, the industry can simplify
and quantify the definition of sustainability and clarify what is required to
attain it,” he concluded.