Critical media reports

Political demands, new laws and critical media reports pile on added pressure. The press, for example, are all too keen on picking up on reports of dangerous products on the Rapex List (the rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products), a system used by EU member states to exchange information on harmful products among each other with the aim of taking such products off the shelves as quickly as possible. In the past year, the EU placed 2,435 dangerous products on the Rapex List, including more than 500 items from the category textiles, clothing and fashion.

What is more, NGOs are also increasing their efforts to raise public awareness on production conditions and the use of hazardous goods through a variety of campaigns - such as the Greenpeace 'Detox' campaign. Starting in 2011, the campaign aims to encourage the textiles industry to stop using eleven dangerous substances in the production process completely by 2020. In addition, companies should disclose the names of their suppliers and apply a high duty of care - only deploying substances that have been proven safe. To date, 31 fashion companies and suppliers of textiles have committed to the Detox campaign. The ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) Initiative is also pursuing the same goal. This alliance of currently 22 enterprises and associations was founded in 2011 and intends to reduce the use of all hazardous chemicals in production and the product's lifecycle to zero by 2020.

Inspection companies are adapting

These are just a few current examples of challenges that are facing the textiles industry anew each and every day. They reveal the rising and ever-complex demands and expectations coming from various aspects of society. To continue to operate successfully on the market in such demanding circumstances, textiles companies need a strong partner on their side. The inspection and certification industry has already reacted to these changes and adapted its service in line with the new requirements.

Hermes Hansecontrol, for example, has changed from being a provider of individual lab tests to ensure compliance with legal standards to becoming a flexible partner offering comprehensive inspection and consultation services along the whole supply chain. In the past, the company's primary focus was on internal quality assurance processes for products contained in the OTTO catalogue, 80 per cent of which were clothing and textiles. Given its special understanding of the processes and tasks involved in sourcing, and the complex production chains inherent in textiles, it quickly leveraged the ability to develop combined services offered to resolve specific customer problems.

Despite the growing need for consultative work, chemical analysis and inspections of hazardous goods remain the core services of the inspection company. It is essential that the goods comply with the legal requirements for the respective country of sale. Correspondingly, inspection companies continue to elaborate requirement profiles for the various sales markets for their clients and test in line with country-specific guidelines. However, because consumer protection agencies and NGOs normally apply stricter criteria than do legal provisions, an increasing number of companies are looking for safeguards based on higher, customised requirements.

A widely used guideline for instance refers to product quality, requiring clothing to retain the same high standard even after being worn and washed several times. A growing number of textiles are also complying with the requirements of environment criteria such as the Oekotex Standard 100. A significant feature of the change taking place in inspection companies is, however, that these inspection and consultation services - irrespective of whether based on legal standards or significantly stricter, customised criteria - are integrated in a holistic approach.

Holistic approach

Those responsible for products in companies often find it difficult to properly assess the risks of their products, to develop meaningful concepts of quality assurance, and keep updated on the numerous legal provisions specific to each country.

For example, the European Chemicals Directive REACh (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) requires manufacturers and importers to bear responsibility for the safety of all chemicals used in their products. Another field of consultation concerns the safety of children's clothing. As practical as cords and drawstrings may be on clothing, they can become traps for kids. Other dangers lurk in removable small parts such as buttons or adornments, which could be swallowed or inhaled. It is therefore essential for all involved to apply the respective standard and follow product design guidelines.

Thus, clients are looking for partners who can support them in all quality issues and who are willing to become involved in the development phase of products. Within the scope of feasibility studies, the inspection company consults clients on just how a product can be developed further. Sometimes it will recommend using another material or deploying certain manufacturing techniques, and can show how specific substances can be eliminated in the production process. And to be able to offer such consultative services across the whole supply chain, it draws on its in-depth knowledge of the textiles industry, with its unique set of requirements.

To leverage the benefits or short reaction times as well as costs benefits and ensure that information is exchanged directly, a number of inspection companies have set up operations in close proximity to production sites. This is particularly advantageous in respect of newly-defined standards for products. A local market presence in producing countries makes life easier for textiles companies, as does the dovetailing of logistics processes with the 'risk solution provider' which helps goods produced in Asia and India to be offered to end consumers much earlier.

Courses/workshops and audits

Inspection companies also support the textiles industry by offering courses, workshops and supplier training, which can be delivered at the inspection partner's or in-house on company premises. On top of this, consultative work along the whole supply chain comprises process analysis and optimisation. In joint collaboration with the client, service providers develop processes to evaluation suppliers, for sample checks, to compile material requirements, and coordinate recall and crisis management systems. This all equips textiles companies to best deal with recalls should the need arise.

Another important step for textiles companies to protect themselves from the loss of image resulting from product recalls or critical reports in the media is to have inspections carried out locally at production sites. In such controls, inspection companies check, among other things, whether the right components in the agreed quality and in the colours required are used for the goods ordered. Moreover, they inspect the equipment at workstations, working process and storage facilities, for example.

There are different types of inspection that can take place in local factories: prior to production, during and at the end of the production, as well as once the goods have been loaded ready for shipment. Textiles are also controlled for conformity in material, form and colour and for visible production deficits, the right volumes, labelling, marking and packaging. Such inspections also have a preventative function and are an incentive for suppliers to meet quality standards set in customer specifications. While inspections scrutinise the product and its manufacturing process, factory audits take a closer look at processes and procedures, including environmental and social compatibility.

Complex procurement structures

Having emanated in Europe, this transparency in the product and the process chain is ever-stronger in demand now on a global scale. It is, however, extremely challenging to secure such openness and accountability at all levels given the complex and detailed nature of procurement structures. It is difficult for textiles companies to manage the effort and expense involved without a partner at their side who has the required inspection and consultation skills and competences. This is particularly the case if companies are looking to implement the Detox campaign, but support would also be necessary to implement customised standards.

In close collaboration with textiles companies, the 'risk solution provider' develops a plan of strategy, classifies suppliers on the basis of risk factors, analyses problem areas and helps substitute harmful substances in production. This shows that an individual approach would be appropriate for each company. For instance, when it comes to the often-required or self-imposed aim of wanting to dispense with the use of dangerous substances by 2020, it may make sense initially to start with substances in the supply chain that are most conspicuous in lab tests.

At first, the use of these is decreased to legal thresholds and to ecological requirements only to be reduced again finally to detection levels. In contrast, another strategy would be to concentrate on substances that are not so conspicuous, because these are often much easier to eliminate. However, regardless of the chosen strategy, today the textiles industry requires a partner whose skills and competences go beyond quality tests and tests for hazardous substances. The risk solution provider should have extensive expertise in the textiles supply chain and be capable of providing consultation services along the whole process chain, employee and supplier training, inspections and audits.

About the author

Lutz Lehmann has been CEO of the Hermes Hansecontrol Group since 2012. He has a wealth of experience in the consumer testing industry, and most recently held the post of Vice President TV International GmbH, a subsidiary of TV Rheinland AG, where he was responsible for sales, marketing and global key accounts.