What do Wal-Mart, Duke University, and the Environmental Protection Agency have in common? They’re three among the thirty founders of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a research institute that will investigate the conditions in which clothing is produced — a complicated business, to be sure (where was that zipper fabricated?). Reporter Tom Zeller cannot entirely conceal the too-good-to-be-true press-releaser quality of this news, but at least it will make an interesting failure, if fail it does.

The coalition’s tool is meant to be a database of scores assigned to all the players in the life cycle of a garment — cotton growers, synthetic fabric makers, dye suppliers, textile mill owners, as well as packagers, shippers, retailers and consumers — based on a variety of social and environmental measures like water and land use, energy efficiency, waste production, chemical use, greenhouse gases and labor practices.

A clothing company designer could then use the tool to select materials and suppliers, computing an overall sustainability score based on industry standards. If the score exceeds the company’s own sustainability goals — or if competitive pressures arising from a consumer label are compelling the company to bring scores down — designers could revise their choices with the tool.

Such a tool is a work in progress. It draws heavily from two earlier efforts — an environmental design tool developed by Nike, and an “Eco Index” begun by the Outdoor Industry Association last year. But these afford only a partial or approximate look at the potential effects of discrete industry segments.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 at 10:30 am.