Now those are green jeans
Figuring that consumers would appreciate having more confidence that the clothing or footwear they are buying isn't wreaking havoc on the environment or society, a group of big-name apparel makers, retailers, outdoor products companies and non-governmental organizations have banded together to create something called the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
The aim of the group is to do the following:
- Provide some shared vision of what it means to be sustainable in the clothing industry and offer standard ways of measuring it
- Identify technologies that could help companies reach their sustainability goals
- Collaborate to create consistent expectations and business practices for members of the clothing and apparel industry supply chain
As you might expect, one of the founding members is Patagonia, which has been focused on environmentally driven best practices and sourcing policies for some time. Says Rick Ridgeway, who is the chairman of the coalition and also Patagonia's vice president of environmental programs:
"The largest and most influential corporations in apparel and footwear together with leading environmental and social organizations have voluntarily engaged in this collective effort because they recognize the opportunity to get in front of the growing need to measure and manage the environment and social impacts of their products. More importantly, they recognize the threat to the planet and its inhabitants by continuing the model of 'business as usual.' "
Here's who is on the founders list (it's not small): Adidas, Arvind Mills, C&A, Duke University, Environmental Defense Fund, Esprit, Esquel, Gap, H&M, HanesBrands, Intradeco, JC Penney, Lenzing, Levi Strauss & Co., Li & Fung, Marks & Spencer, Mountain Equipment Co-op, New Balance, Nike, Nordstrom, Otto Group, Outdoor Industry Association, Patagonia, Pentland Brands, REI, TAL Apparel, Target, Timberland, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Verite, VF Corp. and Walmart.
One of the initial "products" of this group will be a standardized sustainability disclosure index that draws on some of the existing work that has been done by both Nike and the Outdoor Industry Association (which in turn draws on some extensive work that has been done by Timberland). The initial version of that index will be "beta-tested" sometime in 2011.
The question some of you may have will be how much teeth a voluntary organization of this nature can really have. But the inclusion of Walmart, Target and Nordstrom -- very influential retailers -- should help keep manufacturers honest. What's more, how cool is it that they can pool their resources to do something collectively instead of running off in umpteen different directions with the same goal.
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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com