The North Face clarifies PFC position in response to new Greenpeace attack
04/02/2016
Greenpeace published a report criticising brands in September, following initial reports in 2012 that led to the launch of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals group.
The campaign group has organised demonstrations outside 100 North Face and Mammut stores this week “to expose the companies’ toxic addiction”.
The North Face said: “Low levels of fluorinated chemistry are used in a wide range of industries and products, from food packaging to textiles. Outdoor apparel adds a negligible amount of PFCs into our environment; however, as we highlighted in our blog post last year, we are committed to environmental and social responsibility and have been hard at work to eliminate them from our apparel.
“As of our Spring 2015 line, we no longer use any long-chain PFCs in our technical apparel. For the time being, we are using short-chain PFC-based Durable Water Repellency (DWR) treatments, which offer identical performance characteristics. Although these treatments contain fluorinated chemistry, short-chain DWR is currently the best available viable alternative to long-chain PFCs. This change represents an intermediary step in our shift away from PFCs, and just one piece of our overall responsible chemistry program.
“Additionally, for the Fall 2015 season, we transitioned a handful of our apparel products to non-fluorinated DWR treatments after significant development and testing with one of our key suppliers. In this pilot program, we proved that we could obtain performance characteristics equal to our short-chain DWR treatments with the exception of retaining the same level of stain resistance. We’ve also learned it’s not a quick and smooth swap. Not all of our suppliers offer the same technology, and the transition is different for each product, each having a unique construction and intended end-use.
“For Spring 2017, nearly 30% of our newly developed DWR treated apparel materials will be non-fluorinated. While this may not seem like much, it’s actually a significant shift in our supply chain that requires major stakeholder engagement and commitment. In addition, we have set a goal to transition to 100% non-fluorinated DWR in our apparel by 2020. Our non-fluorinated DWR strategy starts with apparel because that is where we have the highest volume of materials and can create the most change. We know that once our suppliers convert to non-fluorinated DWR, they will be able to provide that option to other brands, and together, we can help advance the industry in the right direction.
“While our technical apparel has been our primary focus for these changes, it won’t stop there. We will apply our key learnings to our footwear and equipment categories. To get there, we have engaged with key vendors and begun testing materials. We do not have as much influence on the supply chain in these product categories compared to apparel, it might take more time, research and development. We believe it’s critical to approach these categories with the same rigor as our apparel transition and we are not deterred by the challenge.”
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