Are you a textile manufacturer? If so, you’ve come to the right place! Here we will provide you with the most important information that we’ve learned while helping dozens of other textile manufacturers. Our hope is to provide you with the necessary details you will need as you embark on your journey towards product compliance and sustainability.
Compliance Regulations for Textile Manufacturers
- CA Prop 65 - If you are selling your product anywhere in the state of California, this regulation applies to you
- Conflict Minerals - While unlikely, if you are using gold, tin, tantalum, and tungsten anywhere in your supply chain, you’ll want to collect supply chain data to ensure ethical sourcing and conflict mineral compliance
- REACH & SCIP - Importing your products into the EU? If so, these regulations apply to you
- TSCA - If your textile is manufactured, processed, distributed, or disposed of in the U.S., compliance with the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) an important requirement. For performance fabrics with water-resistant or fire-retardant properties, you will want to be especially diligent in screening for PFAS in your supply chain.
Not sure what these compliance regulations are, or need a refresher? Check out our Compliance Crash Course and TSCA blogs!
Sustainability Reports for Textile Manufacturers
- Health Product Declaration (HPD) - HPDs are a self-declared report containing a product’s ingredients in order to be screened against priority hazard lists. HPDs can also be used for green building certification through LEED or WELL, which might be relevant for you or your customers
- Declare Label - Declare labels are also self-declared ingredient reports, commonly referred to as the nutrition labels for products, with the intention of communicating product transparency. Additionally, Declare Labels Certified products can often be used for Living Building Challenge projects, as well as LEED and WELL certifications
Not familiar with these sustainability reports? Check out additional details here.
Digital Product Passports (DPP) - While DPPs are not yet required, changes making them required are anticipated in the next couple of years. DPPs on the Toxnot Exchange are a great way to communicate all of the above information to your customers on one platform.
Tips & Need-to-Knows
Other tips and need-to-knows that might be helpful to you as you’re starting your journey and getting familiar with the Toxnot Platform:
- You may be starting with very little to no bill of material (BOM) data. The first step is collecting a components list and your supplier contact information. Your components list needs to be comprehensive, including all parts that make up your final product. Your supplier contact information will ideally include an email address for primary communication and a phone number as backup.
- In order to pursue any of the above-mentioned compliance regulations or sustainability reports, full material disclosure (FMD) down to 100 ppm (at least) is necessary in order to fulfill the requirements.
- As a manufacturer in the textile space, it’s likely that you source dyes from other suppliers. This sort of data is traditionally difficult to attain due to proprietary formulations. While Toxnot allows collection of proprietary data while still maintaining the privacy desired by suppliers, this may be a barrier to getting something like a Declare Label that requires transparency. For this reason, supplier surveying and data collection will likely be the most demanding part of your compliance and sustainability journey.
- Product compliance and sustainability reporting are largely dependent on what your final product contains (i.e. dyes, conflict-sourced cotton, etc.) and what markets you are selling into (i.e. the EU, the US, etc.). Go into this process understanding that each product line may have different requirements that require careful attention.
- In pursuing your sustainability reporting (i.e. Declare Labels and HPDs), understand that you often have the option to report on a representative product - a single product BOM that represents a variation of a product or a product line. In this case, you will want to be familiar with composite and alternatives functionality in Toxnot.
- Performance fabrics (i.e. water resistant, fire retardant coating, etc.) are more likely to contain chemicals of concern (i.e. PFAS) and may be harder to get full material disclosure for, but are extremely important to collect data on to ensure that you are creating safe textiles.
- Cotton is at the center of global discussions on Uyghur forced labor in China and would be wise to investigate in your supply chains.
Toxnot is no stranger to helping manufacturers in the building industry. Customers like Crypton are an example of long-time users with a multitude of sustainability and compliance successes. We understand that every sustainability journey looks different, but we are committed to helping you reach your goals regardless. Using the resources and tips outlined here, you can be well on your way to meeting your compliance and reporting commitments!
Sign up for a free Toxnot account today to get started!