Six major international clothing brands have announced a ‘joint roadmap’ intended to dramatically reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in their supply chains. Adidas Group, C&A, H&M, Li Ning, Nike Inc and Puma say the initiative will lead the apparel and footwear industry towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020. The initiative is a direct response to ‘Dirty Laundry’, a July 2011 report from Greenpeace which exposed toxic use and related pollution in production facilities in China. The roadmap commits the firms to identify all chemicals used in textile manufacturing, a phase-out of hazardous chemicals and to projects to encourage sector wide chemical disclosure.

ChemSec news report. Dirty Laundry, Greenpeace, July 2011. Risks 535.