Uniqlo latest to sign up to supply chain detox

The clothes manufacturer and retailer, which is the biggest global fashion brand based in Asia, and its parent company Fast Retailing Group, will also improve transparency by disclosing discharge data from at least 80% of their global suppliers in 2013.

The move gives people living near the company’s manufacturing facilities the right to know if hazardous chemicals are being released into their immediate environment.

The commitment covers all of the brands in the Fast Retailing Group, which has over 2000 stores and includes Uniqlo, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, g.u. and Theory.

Fast Retailing Group has become the twelfth global corporation to commit to Greenpeace’s Detox campaign, launched back in 2011.

By pledging to phase out all perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), Uniqlo has also followed in the footsteps of Marks & Spencer who signed up to Greenpeace’s campaign in October last year. 

PFCs are manmade, hazardous chemicals that the industry commonly uses to make textile and leather products water and stain-proof.

Greenpeace Japan toxics campaigner Hisayo Takada welcomed Uniqlo’s announcement and its commitment to open up the “notoriously murky” world of textile manufacturing to the public.

However, he insisted that more fashion brands should take note of their responsibilities toward the environment.

“Other brands such as Calvin Klein, Victoria’s Secret and G-Star Raw also need to listen to their customers and urgently eliminate all hazardous chemicals from their supply chain and products,” he added.

Conor McGlone