Burlington Industries, a division of Elevate Textiles, said it has become among the first to offer its customers access to data on top-lselling performance fabrics through the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI), a trusted tool to measure and score the environmental impacts of materials used in the design and production of apparel and footwear.
The Higg MSI tool promotes and supports transparency with access to verifiable data that compares the impact of different materials, such as cotton, polyester and leather, allowing designers to make more informed product decisions and minimize the environmental impact of new products. The tool measures five environmental impacts for natural and synthetic materials–chemistry, global warming potential, nutrient pollution in water, water scarcity and fossil fuel depletion.
Through this comprehensive tool, Burlington is able to provide Life Cycle Assessment and comparison data to its customers, providing details of specific materials used in the design of the brand’s fabrics and the associated environmental impact.
“We are excited to be among the first to offer this type of innovation, further supporting our customers in designing and creating the most sustainable products,” said Nelson Bebo, vice president of performance fabrics at Burlington. “Sustainability is at the forefront of all Burlington operations and developments, and our brand has a strong commitment to minimizing environmental impact. We’re excited for this opportunity to support advancing transparency through tools like the Higg MSI, not only in the realm of sustainability and compliance, but also within our industry.”
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Burlington has been using the Higg Environmental Module (FEM) since 2017 and has added additional Higg tools since that time, including the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (FSLM) and Higg MSI. The brand formally joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which created the Higg Index, earlier this year, expanding its participation with the coalition and further advancing its commitment to drive sustainability as a leader within the industry.
“Supply chain transparency and collaboration are required to understand the environmental impacts of specific material and design decisions,” Joël Mertens, director of Higg Product Tools, said. “By sharing customized material information calculated using the Higg MSI, Burlington is enabling their customers to make better product choices and reduce their environmental impacts at scale.”
The Higg Index is an indicator-based suite of tools that measures sustainability performance and drives supply chain transparency and decision-making that enables suppliers, manufacturers, brands and retailers to better evaluate materials, products, facilities and processes based on environmental performance, social labor practices and product design choices.
Burlington is a global diversified provider of textile solutions across performance and specialty apparel fabrics, activewear, advanced uniform fabrics and technical fabrics. Burlington operates as part of Elevate Textiles, Inc. with operations in the United States, Mexico and China.