bluesign technologies ag opens up the “blue box” for more transparency

St.Gallen, Switzerland – bluesign technologies has decided to open the criteria of its standard. The result of the development work for years of this unique and holistic standard is now public on our website.

http://www.bluesign.com/index.php?id=151&L=1

The challenge today:

It is an obligation for all companies in the textile chain to regard and manage product safety and environmental aspects. Many companies have learned from their own attempts that this can be a quite challenging task, since they have to keep track of a lot of rules and regulations for every market they serve.

Moreover, these regulations change from time to time. Especially for companies like textile manufacturers things are getting more and more complex since they additionally have to cope not only with Restricted Substances Lists (RSL) from

Brands and Retailers but also with REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances – new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use) and CPSIA (US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act).

The unique solution for success – the bluesign® system:

The bluesign® standard tackles the problem at its roots. Instead of focusing on finished product testing, all input streams – from raw materials, to chemical components, to resources – are analyzed with a sophisticated “Input Stream Management” process. Prior to production, every component is assessed and receives a rating based on its ecotoxicological impact eliminating potentially harmful substances before production even begins.

The bluesign® standard is built around five principles: Resource productivity, consumer safety, air emission, water emission and occupational health and safety. It is designed to provide solutions concerning “Environment, Health and Safety” (EHS) issues along the entire textile manufacturing chain.

A key aspect of the bluesign® standard is never to compromise on product functionality, quality or design.

Applications for the textile industry:

bluesign technologies offers three premium applications: the bluesign® bluetool, the bluesign® bluefinder and the bluesign® blueguide. These three applications work closely together to ensure that textiles are manufactured using the least but most environmentally friendly resources available. They were developed to meet the specific needs of each level along the textile manufacturing chain. The easyto- use applications are web based and can be accessed worldwide.

Background information on bluesign technologies ag

bluesign technologies ag was founded in 2000. Since then, the bluesign® standard has been adopted by different worldwide leading textile manufacturers. Various significant key players of the chemical and machine industry rely on the bluesign® standard and endorse it as bluesign® supporters. Several well-known brands of the sporting goods and fashion industry benefit as bluesign® members of the extensive know-how of bluesign technologies. In 2008 SGS has acquired a 50 % stake in bluesign technologies ag.