Bluesign makes criteria public
01/04/2010
Bluesign technologies has decided to open the criteria of the standard it awards to companies who run a safe and environmentally efficient production process.
The organisation made the announcement on April 1, pointing out that the criteria it has in place are the result of years of development work. It is a private standard so bluesign technologies has never been obliged to make the details known, especially as the private nature of what it was looking for and what information it used to assess companies had done nothing to stop top outdoor brands such as Patagonia, The North Face, REI, Mountain Equipment Coop, Vaude and Helly Hansen fom giving it their backing.
But it said it now wanted to open up the thinking behind the standard by publishing on its website detailed guidelines for textile manufacturers and their suppliers.
Bluesign said: “It is an obligation for all companies in the textile chain to regard and manage product safety and environmental aspects. Many companies have learned from their own attempts that this can be a quite challenging task, since they have to keep track of a lot of rules and regulations for every market they serve. Moreover, these regulations change from time to time.”
It described the bluesign system as “a unique solution for success” because it tackles problems at their roots instead of focusing on finished product testing.
All input streams—from raw materials, to chemical components—are analyzed using the organisation’s Input Stream Management process.
It offers three premium applications: the bluesign bluetool, the bluesign bluefinder and the bluesign blueguide. These three applications work closely together to ensure that textiles are manufactured using the fewest and most environmentally friendly resources available.
Among the products and processes that bluesign frowns upon are chlorinated wool (used to shrink-proof woollen garments), and permanganate (used in denim production).
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