The North Face hands over use of responsible down standard
23/01/2014
The outdoor brand developed the standard, which allows companies to ensure that the down in their products comes from ethically treated geese, with certification body Control Union and the Textile Exchange.
Adam Mott, senior manager of corporate sustainability at The North Face, said: “Our hope is that the collective use of the standard will effectively promote positive animal welfare conditions and traceability in the down supply chain at a much larger scale than we could accomplish by ourselves.”
The RDS addresses live-plucking and force-feeding of geese, in addition to other strict animal welfare requirements. The chain of custody of the certified down is backed up by TE’s Content Claim Standard.
Down for the outdoor industry is primarily sourced in Eastern Europe and China and can come from large scale industrialised farms or from informal collection systems that draw from small scale farms, including families raising just a few geese for their own use.
The standard development included stakeholder engagement, with input from supply chain members, farmers, animal welfare organiations, and industry experts.
TE will be initiating a second input period as part of the review process, to collect feedback from the field, as well as from additional industry stakeholders. The review process will be complete in the next six to 12 months, it said, and expects to evolve the standard.
The RDS is open for use by any company. Control Union is the only certification body licensed to certify against the standard, but TE plans to set accreditation requirements to open the standard to other certification bodies.
Textile Exchange said it wants to recognise the efforts and commitment of Patagonia with the Traceable Down Standard it developed in November 2013.
Share this story:
