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Members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition – 30 manufacturers and retailers which includes Walmart, Nike, Target, JC Penney and Levi Strauss – (EP, December 2010, p8) have unveiled an index for measuring the environmental impact of apparel products across the supply chain.
The Higg Index, based on the Eco Index and Nike’s Apparel Environmental Design Tool, allows clothing manufacturers and brands to evaluate material types, products, facilities and processes based on a range of environmental and product design choices.
Environmental outcomes in water use and quality; energy and greenhouse gases; waste; and chemicals and toxicity are all measured for the index.
It asks practice-based qualitative questions to gauge environmental sustainability performance.
By 2013, the index will be improved to include footwear products and social and labour impact areas. It will eventually take into account quantitative data and metrics and feature an improved scoring method.
The current version of the Higg Index includes a Materials Sustainability Index, a cradle-to-gate assessment tool to give designers and the global supply chain information on the environmental sustainability of materials.
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