Textile Exchange Expands Risk Assessment Tool

Textile Exchange has expanded its Materials Impact Explorer (MIE) tool to include risk ratings and recommendations for forests and air pollution.

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The tool, which aims to help brands, retailers and suppliers examine potential impacts and dependencies at the start of the value chain, has also added an additional material category: manmade cellulosic fibers (MMCF).

This expansion is thanks to the collaborative effort of several organizations, including the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii), Canopy , Conservation International, Rainforest Alliance, Risilience, The Nature Conservancy, Trase-Global Canopy, Sebastián Block-Environmental Performance Index, Yale University , World Resources Institute and ZDHC Foundation.

Veronique Rochet , senior director of sustainability at Puma , highlighted the tool’s relevance as the German athletic giant used the MIE to inform its biodiversity risk assessment in critical raw materials like polyester and cotton.

“The MIE tool has helped us to review if we have the right strategies in place to address the risk of the potential impact on biodiversity and the risk of dependency in terms of environmental assets and ecosystem services that our organization relies on to function,” Rochet said. “We value having forests included as a risk category to explore further deforestation -free commitments in addition to our commitment to source all bovine leather used in our products from verified deforestation-free supply chains by 2030 or earlier.”

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Puma also values having air pollution as a risk category as it is part of the brand’s Tier 1 and 2 supplier programs, but also because it extends further, helping Puma understand the risks within its upstream value chain , Rochet said. The MIE tool analyzes risks at the Tier 4 level as well, providing a comprehensive view of the complete supply chain.

“We would also like to acknowledge that forests are part of a broader land use change risk area,” she added. “We plan to explore opportunities for building this out in the future.”

Textile Exchange debuted the tool at its annual conference in London last October to help brands identify the potential risks and opportunities associated with the fibers and raw materials in their supply chains.

The industry body said its tool provides tailored recommendations on mitigating risk, reducing environmental impact and supporting local and global sustainability initiatives. By combining Google Cloud’s technical capabilities with WWF’s conservation know-how, the tool can also be used to support risk assessment for various reporting and disclosure frameworks as well.

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