New objectives for Organic Exchange

On Friday, Organic Exchange announced its new goals and initiatives aimed at advancing the sustainable development of textiles globally over the next five years. The objectives included develop an industry-wide ‘Factory Environmental Performance Standard’. The standard would be used to evaluate factories on environmental criteria including water usage, chemicals and energy. They also included delivering an assessment tool that companies can use to evaluate how sustainable textiles products and processes are. There were also plans to increase communications channels with the creation of global forums, blogs, and other communications platforms focussed on the innovation and integrity of sustainable textiles.

The Organic Exchange is most recognised for its support and work with organic cotton farmers most notably by leading the growth of the organic cotton market from under $300 million in 2002 to over $3 billion in 2009.  . It remains committed to this work but also wants to widen its remit to include to cover eco-textiles and sustainability throughout the supply chain. Their goals include improving sustainability practices, helping to standardise product integrity and implementing a chain of custody standards and systems to support sustainability claims.

 Further information on Organic Exchange can be found on http://organicexchange.org