Sustainable fashion is the key objective of consumers and industry alike with companies increasingly required to conduct environmental and ESG audits.
Sustainable fashion is increasingly being demanded by consumers and the legal requirement for manufacturers, retailers and brands to provide transparency on their sustainability and ESG efforts.
Companies are now increasingly required to measure and report on both their own environmental policies and those of businesses in their whole supply chain as sustainability principles must be implemented at every part of the supply chain in order to make meaningful change.
To effectively monitor, assess and improve sustainable fashion industry performance, an environmental audit is essential for textiles and leather suppliers and factories at all tiers. Eurofins has a global network of laboratories – UK lab is in Leeds – and provides comprehensive quality, safety and sustainability solutions at every stage of the textile, leather and footwear supply chain.
Eurofins Market Standard Audit – Environmental is designed specifically for the textile, footwear and leather industry and focuses on the three key environmental aspects of manufacturing: Structure and system, Consumption, and Unwanted outputs.
The audit has been designed with significant chemical knowledge, audit know-how and field experience in order to generate an audit that provides a comprehensive picture of a manufacturing site’s environmental performance.
To accurately assess a sustainable fashion industry client, the company’s auditors evaluate a site’s environmental performance in terms of three aspects: Structure and System – Environmental and legal requirements; Environmental – management systems; Consumption – Chemical management, Water consumption, monitoring and savings, Energy consumption, monitoring and savings. Unwanted Outputs – Nuisances, Emissions to air, Wastewater treatment, Solid and hazardous waste management.
Audit reports provide valuable findings on site performance against audit parameters as well as compliance with local regulations. Coupled with photographic reports, our Eurofins Market Standard Audit – Environmental audit provides buyers or stakeholders with the information they need to make considered business decisions in relation to environmental policies, initiatives and direction.
Sustainable fashion and textile industry strategies also seek to comply with wider sustainability frameworks, including the Initiative for Compliance and Sustainability (ICS), a France-based member organisation that aims to enhance working conditions along global supply chains. ICS is composed of 54 multinational retailers and brands in the sectors of textile, retail, footwear, electronics and furniture.
The ICS programme efforts are based on a framework defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, the universal human rights principles and applicable local regulations.
ICS utilises a common methodology and tools to facilitate social audits through third-party ICS-accredited audit companies. ICS audits result in a graded evaluation – which is used by members to engage factories to complete appropriate corrective actions. In addition to social compliance efforts, ICS has a robust, parallel supply chain environmental sustainability effort.
Such environmental audits help ensure that businesses incorporate sustainability into their manufacturing processes. How seriously a business takes its responsibility to and measures its impact on the environment is a critical part of how customers, the public and internal and external stakeholders view the brand.
