Apparel Online India Magazine February 1st Issue 2019 | Page 19

SUSTAINABILITY
SAC named ‘accredited host' of SLCP to improve
conditions of garment workers
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition
(SAC), a prominent association
of leading garment, textile and
footwear suppliers, has been
named as an accredited host of
the Social & Labour Convergence
Project (SLCP) in an effort to
strengthen the textile industry’s
objective of improving the
conditions of garment workers.
It is important to note that
SLCP began in 2016 as a multi-
stakeholder effort to improve
the welfare of garment workers.
SAC, as an accredited SLCP host,
has integrated the converged
assessment framework into the
Higg Index suite of tools as the
foundation of the Higg Facility
Social & Labor Module (Higg
FSLM). In India, Arvind Ltd.,
Eastman Clothing, Pratibha
Syntex are also associated
with SAC.
Coming together under a
converged assessment, the
companies can move beyond
individually-driven programmes
and can use funds, earlier used
for proprietary audits, for the
welfare of garment workers and
the industry. “By using Higg FSLM
at scale, brands, retailers and
manufacturers can assess their
social impacts and strategically
direct valuable resources towards
efforts that meaningfully improve
conditions of garment workers
globally,” informed Amina Razvi,
Interim-CEO, SAC. It is important
to note here that SAC is just
one of the three organisations
to be recognised as an SLCP-
accredited host.
Levi Strauss, Nike, H&M and C&A join hands for
textile chemical management
Four leading apparel brands
including Levi Strauss, Nike,
H&M and C&A have collaborated
to align and donate their
screened chemistry programmes
to the ZDHC. It is a step taken
forward by the brands for the
harmonisation of textile chemical
management. Many sectors of
the textile industry are opting
for greater harmonisation of
chemical management in supply
chains. The move has accelerated
ZDHC’s long-term strategy
to implement a transparent
process that promotes better
chemistry with prior focus on
evaluating safer alternatives and
driving innovations. ‘Screened
Chemistry’ is the concept of
identifying safer alternatives
to existing formulations, while
phasing out hazardous chemicals
that are sometimes replaced with
regrettable substitutions.
“Although the efforts of Levi
Strauss, Nike, H&M and C&A
were not initiated together, the
core elements of their different
screened chemistry methodologies
are very similar both in terms of
their approach as well as ultimate
goals,” said ZDHC. Furthermore,
to develop and scale screened
chemistry, ZDHC has constituted
a dedicated ‘Roadmap to Zero
Programme’ task team for screened
chemistry. ZDHC now starts on
the work of convergence with the
existing elements of the ZDHC
Programme. Being aligned with the
ZDHC MRSL (ZDHC Manufacturing
Restricted Substance List)
approach, screened chemistry
intents to go much further by
noting that the elimination of
hazardous chemicals requires a
clear process for distinguishing
and evaluating alternatives so
as to make sure they are less
harmful. Collaboration across
stakeholder group is required
since some chemicals require
innovation to enable elimination.
“Converging these initiatives
and doing so within the ZDHC
Roadmap to Zero Programme,
facilitates a significantly broader
engagement and provides a clearer
business case to drive innovation,”
said ZDHC.
www.apparelresources.com | FEBRUARY 1-15, 2019 | Apparel Online India
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