ZDHC publishes new tool, ranks top performers
Environmental non-profit ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) Foundation has launched Detox Fashion Radar, a benchmarking tool for ranking progress made by brands signed up to its Roadmap to Zero programme, an initiative to rid global fashion supply chains of harmful chemicals.
“This journey is not a race, and it is not a competition,” commented ZDHC Foundation executive director, Frank Michel. “However, such journeys can feel like running a marathon with low visibility of your own position. [Our intention with] the Detox Fashion Radar is to provide simple benchmarking and motivation for brands to share implementation progress with an interested audience."
On launching its new tool, the non-profit revealed a list of the five highest-ranking contributors to its Brands to Zero scheme, designed to function as a joint mechanism and “clear path” for collective action and best practice information exchange among participants.
These companies – or “performance leaders” – all achieved the foundation’s best score when it came to measuring their implementation and engagement in line with over 70 key performance indicators in 2021, it said. The list, not ranked in order, consists of H&M Group, C&A Group, Victoria’s Secret & Co, Burberry Group and Levi Strauss & Co.
Global sustainability programme manager for chemicals at H&M Group, Mia Gunawan, commented: “Given the size and scale of our value chain, we have an opportunity to influence the industry. By implementing ZHDC programmes, we know that our supply chain is managing its chemicals properly and we can [focus on progressing in] other forefront areas such as demanding more transparency on chemicals and circularity.”
Those not yet featured by the radar, or who may be affiliated with other comparable sustainable chemical management programmes and tools, are invited to share their progress with ZDHC Foundation in meeting its criteria, with a view to being included in the future.
