Something good is happening

I am preparing to make a presentation in November, at the Organic Trade Association’s training session for their new standards for processing “organic” textiles. I have never been to Lubbock, so I am looking forward to it. I was on the technical advisory committee that helped draw up the new standards several years ago, but I had not reexamined the standards since that time. When they asked me to make this presentation, I had to get familiar with standard again on a very basic level.

I am not an expert on organic textiles, but I am reasonably proficient in the commercial wet processing of textiles (dyeing and finishing). I published on the process and implementation of “greening” textile dyeing and finishing several years ago. (Ausley-Moore, JCLP 12 (2004) 585-601)

When I begin to compare the new OTA standards to existing 3rd party accreditations, especially the Oeko-Tex 100 standard (www,oekotex.com), I was amazed to discover that there was in reality, very little difference between the “Organic” labeling requirements and Oeko-Tex standard. Why is this amazing? It is important because Oeko-Tex is a standard that is used by mainstream, non organic producers of textile materials, in other words, regular textile producers. Not green-o’s, tree huggers, or niche market companies, but multi-billion dollar global textile firms all over the world. This means that the textile industry, through market forces, has adapted and found competitive advantage through the “greening”, and the third party accreditation that provides transparency and standards to the process. There are now thousands of textile products and mills accredited worldwide, especially in the Far East, as the Oeko-Tex accreditation has become a de facto quality and credibility measurement.

10-20 years ago, this could have never occurred. The textile Industry responded in the past only to local policy for the country where it was located. There was little agreement internationally and some of the health and environmental policies were little more than semi-transparent trade barriers. The Globalization of markets has allowed such standards as Oeko-Tex to flourish and grow even in the developing regions of the world, where they are much more stringent than any local requirements. Most important for me is that the quality of ecological and toxicological requirements in Oeko-Tex are such that they meet 90%+ of the new standards for “organic” textiles. Truly the world’s consumers are beginning to understand the costs of risk in toxicological matters and placed value on the Oeko-Tex brand.

This means that a substantial percentage of the world’s textile production is much safer and greener than even a decade ago, and it was market forces and competitive pressures that stimulated the evolution to greener production…not simply regulatory pressures.

This convinces me that the course our firm is taking, and indeed the course of businesses striving to be sustainable, is the correct for our shareholders. It also means that our assumption that cleaner and greener means more efficiency and profits is being proven in the marketplace. This personal observation is very broad in scope. I am sure that I will discover through my presentation, other gaps between the OTA standards and Oeko-Tex, but the existence of Oeko-Tex is going to make a whole lot of textile apparel folks, who want to sell “organic” textiles, auditing efforts a whole lot easier. For they can now ask if the product and mill are Oeko-Tex certified, and if so, there is only 10% or so determinates that must be audited, for Oeko-Tex has done 90% of the job.

I must say that it does my heart good to see how far this industry has come in the last 30 years by embracing a more sustainable value proposition, rather than delving into the scientific minutiae to find differences that delay the reduction of toxic substances in the environment. It seems becoming sustainable is a good business proposition.