chemicals

FINALLY AN ADMISSION THAT CHEMICALS IN TEXTILES FOR CLOTHING IS NOT GOOD!!!

Levi Strauss & Co. And Hohenstein Collaborate To Bring Safer Chemicals To The Apparel Industry Using ECO PASSPORT By OEKO-TEX®

November 19, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO/BOSTON — November 19, 2019 — Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) and Hohenstein today announced a collaboration to utilize the ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® certification system in the LS&Co. supply chain. This will amplify the capabilities of the Screened Chemistry program developed by LS&Co., helping establish a clearer pathway toward safer chemistry in the apparel industry by providing enhanced levels of testing, verification and transparency for chemical safety.

LS&Co. and Hohenstein both approach chemicals management from the perspective that safer inputs lead to safer outputs. Screened Chemistry, originated by LS&Co. as an open source program others can adopt, scrutinizes chemical formulations to prevent potentially hazardous compounds from entering the apparel supply chain and identify safer alternatives. By screening emerging chemistries that are not yet covered by Manufacturing Restricted Substances Lists (MRSLs), LS&Co. has created a more holistic approach to ensuring safe and responsible chemicals management.

ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX is an independent certification system for chemicals in the apparel, textile and leather industries. During a multi-stage process, ECO PASSPORT analyzes whether each individual ingredient in a chemical product meets international statutory requirements and is not harmful to human health. On-site inspections can validate claims that suppliers are using safer and better chemistry, manufactured according to industry best practices.

“Levi Strauss & Co. is committed to responsible chemicals management across our supply chain and our industry. This collaboration helps take our existing programs to the next level by establishing a new standard for responsible chemical stewardship that melds the hazard-based approach of Screened Chemistry with the robust testing and validation capabilities of Hohenstein,” said Michael Kobori, Levi Strauss & Co. VP of Sustainability.

“We believe that the collaboration between LS&Co. and Hohenstein is a significant step toward identifying and pulling better chemistry into apparel, footwear and textile supply chains,” said John Frazier, Senior Technical Director at Hohenstein. “The coupling of Screened Chemistry, ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX, brand leadership and progressive chemical suppliers is a powerful signal of good things to come for chemicals management.”

The combined use of Screened Chemistry and ECO PASSPORT complements the recognized standards agreed upon by the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Roadmap to Zero initiative, an industry collaboration designed to drive the adoption of safer chemistry across the apparel supply chain. Through its testing and on-site verification, ECO PASSPORT will enable chemical suppliers to achieve higher levels of conformance with ZDHC. ECO PASSPORT’s certification results are published in the OEKO-TEX Buying Guide, providing a credible third-party assessment of chemical supplier performance.

This partnership will enable LS&Co. to advance and better implement its existing chemicals management program and create a template that others in and beyond apparel can follow. The result is a program that goes beyond a risk management approach and provides a roadmap for companies to eliminate and prevent the introduction of chemical hazards in the supply chain.

Posted November 19, 2019

Source: Hohenstein

I have chosen to publish the above article in its entirety. As we now know the textile industry uses chemicals that are dangerous to the health of those who wear the clothing. If this were not the case why the need testing of the chemicals before and after they are applied to fabrics. Two companies that benefit from this farce are OEKO-TEX and the Hohenstein Institute otherwise known as the HOHO Institute as I call them.

What if Levi simply chose not to put chemicals on their fabrics in the first place. The fabric costs would be less, the life expectancy of the fabrics would be longer and the customers would not have to be concerned about chemical additives in the fabrics that could affect their health.

If I can buy ALL of the fabrics that I use in a pure finish state why can’t a company as large as Levi do the same? Do you think Levi Strauss himself would approve?

I keep seeing and reading articles such as this and I ask what is wrong with the fabrics in their natural state. Cottons and wool's have been doing fine for several thousand yes thousands of years. What do the addition of chemicals impregnated into these fabrics add to their ability to work? As far as I am concerned these chemical additives not only do not add anything but take away from the fabrics. A perfect example is fire retardant treating cotton; it goes through several chemical baths applying the fire-retardant chemicals and each time it is then dried and the drying process reduces the strength of the fabric. I can only assume doing the same thing to other fabrics will give you the same result. Of course you are still exposed to whatever chemicals are introduced into the fabrics. If you are chemically sensitive you will not be able to wear these garments, and if you are not chemically sensitive you may very well become chemically sensitive because you are wearing them.

If fabric companies and garment companies did their own homework about the fabrics, they are using there would be no need for the hoho institute or okeo-tex companies or other companies that supposedly test materials.

Periodically someone will call me with lots of questions about my products and generally it is sleeping bags. They ask who tested my bags and I say no one. They have been in use for 30 plus years and have performed at temperatures lower than what I rate them for but that is not satisfactory for these people. They refuse to accept that I know what I am doing. How do I know that I know what I am doing is working, easy, just read the volume of testimonials that I have received and continue to receive attesting to what I say about my products.

I knew when I started what weights of Lamilite would work at what temperature because I had been supplying companies with fiberfill for years, plus as I have mentioned I read Gerry Cunningham’s booklet how to keep warm. I was not going on guess work!

All of these large companies like Levi have new employees each year or two who have no background in the area of work they are hired for so they look to a third party to support whatever it is they want to claim, true or not. So you have the creation of a third-party group of companies that are manned by people equally devoid of knowledge of the materials to be tested. It becomes a three-ring circus. They just go around and round until it stops and nobody knows where or why. who ultimately pays for all of this; the consumer. The bean counters at these companies take all costs into consideration and that includes the costs for testing and that determines the selling price.

In today’s business environment there exists VERY few free thinkers who stand up for what they do. In the textile industry there are almost no free thinkers who stand up for what they do. With all that we know today about the reality that a product such as goretex does not work we do not see companies choosing to stop using this product, why because the people in charge of these companies have the same backbone structure as a worm and do not want to even consider that they are selling a bogus product. They only want to parrot what they have been told; they do not think!!! If the employees of the companies that use this stuff did think they would have either never used it or terminated its use shortly after use because they would have LEARNED IT DOES NOT WORK. But as we know that has not happened, why; because they the employees do not think. Things might be different if these employees had skin in the game and really wanted to make and sell a good product, which would not include goretex, in my opinion a plague in the outdoor industry.

It is high time that the textile industry view fabrics as they are and not try to make them into fabrics that will not do what you want by adding chemicals to them, since it will not work regardless what they want to accomplish.