Apparel giant VF Corporation is in the process of eliminating harmful chemicals before they enter the manufacturing stream. It has devised a chemical management program that screens for more than 400 harmful chemicals such as chlorinated solvents and formaldehyde.
The company requests suppliers to fill small vials with samples of each and every chemical used in their factories, which it sends to a designated lab for screening. If red rated chemicals are found, VF asks the supplier to switch it with a green rated chemical on its preferred list.
The program was tested in Mexico, Turkey and Los Angeles, and then rolled out across its entire supply chain in China, which includes dye houses and laundry and printing facilities, textile suppliers and cut-and-sew factories. In 2015, it will be launched with suppliers in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
In countries where VF has tested it, suppliers actually welcomed the clarity it brought to the somewhat murky chemical management process. When the results of the screening are shared, suppliers have often been surprised to discover the presence of certain chemicals, either because they were not chemical experts or because it was present in such minute quantities that it did not make the minimum parts per million when it would have been reported.
VF sources from nearly 2,000 suppliers in 60 countries. It’s the parent company of brands such as North Face, Timberland, Nautica, Lee and Wrangler.
www.vfc.com/
