Make The Label Count

We are delighted to announce that the Aid by Trade Foundation has officially joined the Make the Label Count coalition. With a shared commitment to promoting credible, fair, and transparent sustainability assessments for natural fibres, this partnership marks a significant step forward in ensuring consumers are equipped with reliable information about their choices.   “We welcome the EU’s ongoing efforts to combat greenwashing in product advertising, including through verifiable sustainability claims. However, the EU’s current Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is misleading consumers,” explains Tina Stridde, the managing director of the Aid by Trade Foundation. “As it stands, the environmental footprinting tool favours textile fibres made from fossil fuels such as oil, while placing natural fibres—such as cotton verified under Cotton made in Africa or cashmere fibres verified under The Good Cashmere Standard—at a disadvantage, despite natural fibres being biodegradable, renewable and recyclable."

At COP29 in Baku, Make the Label Count coalition member Better Cotton led a thoughtful discussion on the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology and its role within EU textile regulation, hosted at the Standards Pavilion. This critical session explored the complexities of measuring the environmental impact of textiles and the implications for consumers, farmers, and the environment. Tony Mahar of the Australian National Farmers' Federation and George Candon of Man Friday Consultancy joined the conversation, emphasising the risks of oversimplified metrics in PEF. They highlighted the potential for misleading claims and the importance of accurate, science-based labelling that reflects the true environmental and human impact of fibre choices. #Sustainability #NaturalFibres #COP29 #MakeTheLabelCount

Make The Label Count welcomes Better Cotton as a new member to the coalition. Better Cotton is the world’s largest cotton sustainability initiative focused on promoting sustainable cotton farming practices that improve environmental, social, and economic outcomes for farmers worldwide.   “EU regulators are shaping the future of the fashion and textile sectors as we speak,” explains Hélène Bohyn, Policy & Advocacy Manager at Better Cotton. “The methodology they adopt will play the hugely important role of telling the story of sustainability progress across our industry and beyond, and will be critical to eradicating greenwashing.”   Photo credit: Eventrra/Better Cotton. Location: Lokuo Wala, Shujabad, Pakistan, 2024. Description: Amina Bibi, cotton farm worker, tends to crops.

Plastic pollution worsens critical planetary challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss. As the post below by the Stockholm Resilience Centre shows, the urgency to address the full lifecycle of plastics has never been greater. When it comes to microplastic leakage from synthetic textiles, current measurement frameworks fall short. The EU's PEFCR (Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules) for apparel and footwear merely references microplastic release during washing in the side notes, accounting for only 1.5% of leakage. As this will only be mentioned in the side notes, this does not factor into the final PEF score. Other studies indicate that “Synthetic apparel end-of-life …is by far the largest contributor… It makes up 88% of the total plastic leakage from the synthetic apparel value chain.” To capture the true scale of microplastic pollution, we must adopt more robust approaches, including: - Expert estimates to determine leakage across a product’s lifecycle, including shedding during wear, washing, and end-of-life breakdown. - Lifecycle assumptions, such as considering that 100% of a synthetic garment may eventually degrade into microplastics unless incinerated—a sobering but necessary lens to fully understand the impact. - Incorporating data from scientific studies into standardised sustainability metrics, ensuring all stages of microplastic release are accounted for. Given the growing body of research indicating microplastic leakage from all life stages of a product, how can a value of zero be allocated when the interim science is clear? #Sustainability #PlasticsTreaty #Microplastics #EnvironmentalFootprint 

We are delighted to welcome Abrapa - Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Algodão and as a consequence Cotton Brazil to the Make the Label Count coalition. As a globally recognized organization committed to sustainable #cotton production, their expertise and leadership will strengthen our collective voice and effort to ensure fair and credible sustainability claims for natural fibres. Alexandre Schenkel, President of ABRAPA shares that "the current PEFCR for apparel unfairly favours fossil-fuel synthetics over natural fibres, contradicting the Green Claims Directive’s goal of credible and reliable standards. By joining the Make the Label Count coalition, we’re committed to ensuring fair and sustainable labelling before these rules become European law."

Research spotlight: Low-input grazing as a climate and biodiversity solution A recent study on natural capital accounting for wool-growing businesses in Australia highlights the potential of low-input grazing to reduce farm carbon emissions while enhancing biodiversity. By carefully managing remnant woodlands, some farms achieved net carbon sequestration, effectively absorbing more carbon than they emitted. This is a crucial reminder that sustainable practices can balance agricultural productivity with ecosystem health. Yet, the current EU's Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology falls short in recognising these contributions of nature-based solutions and low-impact farming methods. The PEF's narrow focus on emissions from production often overlooks the holistic benefits of natural fibres in carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. It's time to refine how we assess the environmental impact of apparel, making sure to include the true sustainability value of natural fibres. Read the full study here: https://lnkd.in/eRKNSq7z #SustainableFarming #NaturalFibres #MakeTheLabelCount #ClimateAction #Biodiversity #PEF Image source: Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash  

Make the Label Count welcomes Cape Wools as a new member to the coalition.  Cape Wools is the official industry representative organisation of the South African Wool Industry.  CEO Deon Saayman explains on joining the coalition: “As Cape Wools we believe that wool needs to be honoured as one of the most sustainable fibres, creating true circularity from cradle to grave. Consumers need to understand the complete life cycle of natural fibres and we as industry need to influence policy makers to convey the correct message to consumers. Microplastic pollution is suffocating human and animal well-being and wool needs to be recognised for its circularity and biodegradability. We added our support to Make the Label Count in order for our true wool story to be told and to add our voice to the collective effort to ensure natural fibres earns its rightful, positive position within the PEF process.”

A new study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that patients with microplastics in arterial plaques faced a 4.5x higher risk of heart attack or stroke. While the study doesn't prove direct causation, it highlights the concerning presence of microplastics in human arteries and their potential impact on heart health. While more research is needed, this is a wake-up call about the unseen risks of plastic pollution including microplastic shedding from synthetic textiles. As the EU shapes its textile legislation and further develops the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method, it's crucial to recognise the health and environmental impacts of microplastics. Currently, PEF methodology does not adequately account for the microplastic shedding from textiles throughout its life cycle. Consumers, however, deserve to know that synthetic textiles shed microplastics to make informed decisions about the clothes they buy and consider the impact their clothes may have on their health. #MakeTheLabelCount #EUTextileLegislation #Microplastics #Sustainability #NaturalFibres #PEF https://lnkd.in/eUBZPuZn

We welcome Cotton Council International (CCI) as a new member to the Make the Label Count coalition. CCI brings 60 years of experience in promoting U.S. cotton globally and commits to high quality, transparency and ethical standards, in full alignment with our coalition’s mission. "Joining the Make the Label Count coalition demonstrates our unwavering support for industry-wide collaboration," says Cotton Council International Executive Director, Bruce Atherley. "Together, we can strengthen the credibility and importance of the use of natural fibres”. COTTON USA™