Brands push for global wool standard, says Textile Exchange
15/04/2014
After being approached by retailer H&M, and in a similar fashion to the North Face’s Responsible Down Standard, it was decided that a new standard would only be effective if it was open and transparent, and if multi stakeholders were consulted.
“There are lots of big decisions to be made over which animal welfare issues need to be addressed, and how far back up the supply chain we look,” said Anne Gillespie, director of industry integrity at the Textile Exchange.
The pros of adopting a global standard have been touted as: consistent best-practice, a simpler message for consumers, a single tool for brands, unified expectations, a stronger driver for change, and proactive action before legislation. The cons were listed as: increased costs, conflict with existing initiatives, audit fatigue and variation at farm level.
“We need to work out how we will structure it. We could simply address the fibre source, or we might decide to address the whole production of the wool,” said Ms Gillespie, adding that it was brands which were most interested in developing a standard.
Interested parties were urged to fill in the Exchange’s survey online, or contact them for further information.
Ms Gillespie expects the standard to take about a year to develop, with goals and scope cemented by early May 2014.
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