The Nordic Swan Ecolabel has announced new requirements for clothing and other textile products. The official and currently most important ”sustainability” label of all the Nordic countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland), which has so far been used more for other consumer goods such as soaps, detergents, etc., is sending a strong and necessary signal with its increased focus on textiles. It aims to reduce the environmental impact of production and consumption while making it easier for consumers and professional buyers to select the most environmentally friendly products and services. According to Nordic Swan, each resident of the Nordic countries buys an average of 13 to 16 kilograms of new textiles per year. An increased focus on quality and durability and a ban on discarding excess clothing are among the new Ecolabel standards for product design. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel is now setting strict environmental requirements for all relevant stages of a product’s lifecycle, including chemical requirements for Ecolabelled products.
Cathrine Pia Lund, executive director of Nordic Swan Ecolabel in Norway, said Nordic Swan Ecolabel is now introducing even more ambitious standards for textile manufacturers as the textile sector needs to change. Both European and Norwegian authorities demand that textiles be produced more sustainably and in cycles.
Additional announcements impacting the textile sector include:
- Manufacturers must measure the spread of microplastics from synthetic materials. Nordic Swan wants the results to be shared with The Microfibre Consortium to define a time-limited value.
- Clothing with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel must be made entirely of organic or recycled cotton. Workwear has its own requirements. Synthetic fibers must be made from sustainable source materials or recycled.
- The revised Nordic Swan Ecolabel standards prohibit burning or discarding unsold clothing, and manufacturers must now tell the Ecolabel what they do with surplus garments.
- Production facilities where textiles for the Nordic Swan Ecolabel are manufactured must abide by International Labor Organization (ILO) rules that prohibit forced labor, child labor and discrimination, among other things, and ensure fair wages and working hours. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel also conducts inspections at all production sites, regardless of their location.
The people behind the Ecolabel say that raising standards for product design and the production process should improve quality and enable a circular economy for the textile sector.
