Importance of Textile Sustainability Certifications

Shafiun Nahar Elma
Industrial & Production Engineer
National Institute of Textile Engineering & Research (NITER), Bangladesh.
Email: [email protected]

Sustainably become the new trend and certificates are becoming the key components for ethical and environmentally friendly productions. Since sustainability is an issue in textiles, there is a need to ensure that companies receive textile sustainability certifications that will help ensure that textile products are authentic as well as meet consumers’ demands in the market. Let’s see how certification helps to bring some form of accountability within the industry and in the relationship between the developed and developing world, especially in trade relations.

Why Textile Sustainability Certifications are Important

a) Promoting ethical product manufacturing:
It also ensures that the textile products meet the required standard of environmental and ethical standards as testified by certification. This attitude to responsible production starts from the procurement of basic materials up to the final products thus allowing consumers to make suitable choices.

b) Reducing Environmental Impact:
Textile production accounts for up to 19% share of the overall wastewater. They have been criticized for the negative environmental impacts resulting from high pollution levels and excessive use of energy and water; sustainability certifications minimize such effects by requiring businesses to adhere to environmental best practices, including stretching for harmless dyes, recycled water, and environmentally friendly processes. Schemes such as the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) or OEKO-TEX® impose governing elements that address the need to reduce pollution and waste and improve production processes.

c) The primary conflict is to advance favorable labor relations with stakeholders:
Besides environmental concerns certifications promote humane labor standards including workers’ safety and reasonable wages for textile industry employees. Initiatives such as Fair Trade Certification to balance the trade and support the rights of employees mostly in the Third World countries help to foster successful ethical labor relations throughout the supply chain.

d) Increasing the Customer Demand and Brand Loyalty:
Sustainability certifications make it easier for the consumer to act responsibly, thus giving the market an incentive to buy from sustainable product sources. It is not only for the organization’s benefit but also for the customer because certifications improve brand appeal whilst developing consumer loyalty in a growing aware society.

List of Key Textile Sustainability Certifications

Several published and internationally recognized certification standards act as a guide towards sustainable textiles. Each certification focuses on specific aspects, providing a well-rounded framework for industry practices:

1. Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)

• Established: 2002
• Focus: Use of natural fibers and processing methods, free of environmentally harmful chemicals.
• Importance: GOTS makes assurance of organic content and sustainable processing at the material, processed, and product level; therefore GOTS is recognized globally.

2. OEKO-TEX® Standard 100

• Established: 1992
• Focus: Analyzing the risk of toxic matters in textile and clothing products.
• Importance: Helps to eliminate chemical substances that are dangerous to health on textile products and therefore makes products safe for consumers and the environment.

3. Fair Trade Certified™

• Established: 1998 (Fair Trade USA)
• Focus: Employment relations, social justice, and remuneration.
• Importance: Protects textile workers with appropriate wages and has safe job standards particularly covering the developing world, thus preventing the vice of labor exploitation.

4. Bluesign®

• Established: 2000
• Focus: Nonwoven sustainable textile production
• Importance: Subdues the emission of hazardous chemicals while making production more environmentally friendly, specifically, saving water and energy and decreasing CO₂ emissions.

5. Cradle to Cradle Certification program (C2C)

• Established: 2005
• Focus: The concept of circular design for sustainable life cycles of product
• Importance: Contains goodwill to products that can be recycled or exchanged to support the circular economy of the products in the textile industry.

6. Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)

• Established: 2009
• Focus: Sustainable cotton production
• Importance: These textile sustainability certifications enable and promote environmentally friendly forms of farming by assisting farmers to manage resources such as water better and better working conditions for farm workers.

7. Higg Index

• Established: 2011 (by Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC)
• Focus: Environmental and social sustainability assessment
• Importance: Provides a portfolio of methods for assessing and improving sustainability within the supply chain.

8. Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC)

• Established: 2010
• Focus: Doing business for environmental sustainability
• Importance: These textile sustainability certifications offer a set of generally established tools and norms, enabling brands and retailers to make reductions to their impact on the surrounding world.

9. Green Button

• Established: 2019 (by the German government)
• Focus: Government-backed eco-label
• Importance: Establishes benchmarks for social and environmental standards in textile production, providing citizens with the government-recommended option for purchasing textiles.

10. REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, & Restriction of Chemicals)

• Established: 2006 (European Union)
• Focus: Chemical safety in products
• Importance: Concerned with controlling toxic substances that may be used in textile production to avoid their effects on man and the surroundings.

11. EU Ecolabel

• Established: 1992 (European Union)
• Focus: Sustainable products in the consumer goods industry of different categories
• Importance: Accredits textiles that address the environmental effects of water, energy usage, and emissions right through the life cycle.

12. Sustainable Fiber Alliance (SFA)

• Established: 2015
• Focus: Sustainable production of cashmere
• Importance: All these initiatives are aimed at maintaining the world’s biodiversity, protecting labor rights, and socially and environmentally responsible supply of and manufacturing of cashmere.

13. Carbon Neutral Certification

• Established: 2002 (by Carbon Trust)
• Focus: Carbon footprint reduction
• Importance: Accredits organizations for their carbon footprint measurement, and advises them on how to minimize and offset the emissions connected with textiles manufacturing.

14. WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production)

• Established: 2000
• Focus: Sustainable production
• Importance: Promotes safety and decency at the workplace while endorsing ethical practices in textile industries for manufacture all over the globe.
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Global Impact of Textile Sustainability Certifications

Ever-mounting rules on textile sustainability certifications across the globe have made authentication a requirement for entry into the market and competition. For instance, the EU’s Sustainable Products Initiative and the United States Textile Sustainability Act now include textile sustainability certifications for import goods. Also, it is estimated that China is to launch a national sustainable textile standard before 2025, thus making genuine certifications even more critical across the world. The former has been answering by getting in congruence with the global norms, thus improving the perception of the ‘Made in Bangladesh’ brand.

Recent statistics show that certified sustainable textile sales are up by 30% in certain areas, namely North America, parts of Europe, and Asia, meaning that customers are embracing sustainable fashion brands and the upcycling process. Thus, by 2030, more than half of global textile manufacturers will implement sustainability certifications and reduce the industry’s negative impact on the environment even further.

Dimension & Prospects of Textile Sustainability Certifications

With the increasing concern about the impacts of climate change, textile sustainability certifications will remain evident in textile markets with expectations toward making a requirement in Germany, Sweden, Canada, and other markets within the next ten years. It will be the future of textile production where certified products will gain priority access to important world markets. Lastly, certifications help brands to effectively deliver on consumer requirements, support responsible environmental stewardship, and engender sustainable business advancement within the value chain.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, textile sustainability certificates are important for brands to be useful in a dynamic industry where corporations have to consider their environmental and social impacts. Companies that are planning to enter the world market know that certifications clearly outline the course of compliance and consumers’ confidence and sustainable industrial growth. When the textile industry complies with these standards, it can be a power of good change in the climatic change and better practices on labor practices around the world.

References:

1. Jain, Shubham Anil “Importance of Certification in Textile and Fashion Industry” https://textilelearner.net/importance-of-certification-in-textile-and-fashion-industry/
2. https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/6352/sustainability-certifications-textile-companies-jumping-into-the-wagon
3. https://www.apparelentrepreneurship.com/your-guide-to-sustainability/
4. https://www.fabricoftheworld.com/post/solid-water-air-pollution-from-the-fashion-industry-1

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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