The United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has signed an MOU with the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) to exchange membership and provide information about the group’s sustainability measurement suite of tools, the Higg Index, to our members to help them drive environmental and social responsibility throughout their supply chain.
With this MOU, we join more than 200 global brands, retailers, and manufacturers, as well as government, non-profit environmental organizations, and academic institutions, including many current USFIA members, which are collectively committed to improving supply chain sustainability in the apparel, footwear, and textile industries.
SAC members contribute both data and resources to support the Higg Index, which measures sustainability performance and drives supply chain transparency and decision-making to improve efficiency and sustainability impact. The Higg Index is an open sourced, indicator-based suite of tools that enables suppliers, manufacturers, brands, and retailers to evaluate materials, products, facilities, and processes based on environmental performance, social labor practices, and product design choices. We’ll be working with SAC to provide information and updates about the tools through the USFIA Social Compliance & Sustainability Committee and activities like our webinars and conferences.
Companies or organizations that are not currently members of the SAC and are interested in accessing the Higg suite of tools, may inquire at apparelcoalition.org/join-us/.
Canopy: First Modern Straw Pulp Mill in North America Now Under Construction
For the past 15 years, environmental not-for-profit Canopy has been advocating to make commercial agricultural residue paper a reality. As of September 27th, Columbia Pulp, the first modern mill of its kind, which is slated to make pulp for paper and packaging out of wheat straw, is now officially under construction in Washington State.
By securing the support of large consumer corporations and creating focused demand, Canopy has helped position straw papers and packaging as a strong alternative to products made with virgin tree fiber. Through Canopy’s Second Harvest initiative, corporations such as Staples, EarthColor and over one hundred fashion brands have expressed clear interest in buying agricultural residue paper, packaging and/or textiles as they become available. Canopy’s market survey of 180 companies representing combined sales of more $100 billion USD has identified 1.4 million tons of unmet demand for a range of printing and writing grade papers alone, which is equivalent to the production capacity of 10 pulp mills the size of Columbia. When built, these mills could help revitalize rural areas of the wheat belt and bolster the green economy.
“Making paper out of agricultural residues such as straw waste is a smart way to alleviate pressure on forest ecosystems and provide sustainable business solutions,” said Nicole Rycroft, Canopy’s Founder and Executive Director. “We congratulate Columbia on this incredible first, and are excited to see the investment community mobilizing around this new green resource sector that services the growing paper and packaging market.”
For over a century, the paper industry in North America has logged forests to make paper – with widespread negative environmental impacts. Columbia Pulp will be using clean technology to produce pulp that will use significantly less water, energy and chemicals than traditional kraft-wood pulping processes. The result will be 140,000 tons per year of quality, price-competitive pulp for paper and packaging that will alleviate sourcing pressures on ancient and endangered forests. In addition, Columbia Pulp will use wheat straw residues purchased from local farmers to manufacture pulp for paper, providing a value-added stream to the region. After the grain harvest, once soil and animal needs have been met, the straw residues that remain are often burned in the fields.
“Making a competitive commodity product that is better for the environment and good for farmers is simply good business,” said John Begley, CEO of Columbia Pulp. “Columbia Pulp is proud to be on the vanguard of green innovation in the North American paper sector that I’ve worked in for over 40 years.”
For more information, visit www.columbiapulp.net.
Lenzing: Eco-Responsible Viscose Launches at Premiere Vision Paris
Society's environmental awareness has been growing steadily over the last decade, especially in the fashion and textile industry. Consumers today expect responsible retailers and brands to know their supply chains and to be able to trace product origins. To meet these increasing consumer demands, the industry is anxiously looking for more sustainable and transparent supply chain solutions. With Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibers, Lenzing launches unique environmentally friendly and traceable viscose fibers. A special manufacturing system enables Lenzing to identify Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibers in the final product, long after the textile processing and conversion steps have been completed. This ability to easily verify the original fibers means that retailers and brands can be sure that they are indeed incorporating Lenzing's eco-responsible viscose fibers, and not just any generic viscose that might not be in line with their sustainability goals. With this special identification technology for Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibers, Lenzing provides an one-of-its-kind solution for the fashion industry and its supply chain to respond to consumer demands for reliable visibility of product origins that can be traced back to the fiber.
What makes Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibers so eco-responsible? Lenzing enforces strict environmental standards during viscose production and has invested millions over the years to achieve eco-resposible production processes. Lenzing's viscose production sites where Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibers are made comply with the stringent guidelines of the EU Ecolabel, a world-leading environmental manufacturing standard. Lenzing is also very transparent regarding raw material sourcing practices. Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibers are made from wood. The wood comes from sustainable forestry plantations that are independently certified by industry-leading associations. Lenzing has a comprehensive wood sourcing policy that goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that the most sustainable wood sources are used for viscose production. Lenzing™ EcoVeroTM fibers set a new industry standard in sustainable viscose based on the use of these sustainable wood sources (FSC® or PEFC® certified) and an ecological production process with significantly lower emissions and water impacts than conventional viscose.