The index charges polyester as one of many world’s most sustainable materials, for instance, utilizing knowledge on European polyester manufacturing supplied by a plastics-industry group, though many of the world’s polyester is made in Asia, often utilizing a dirtier power grid and below much less stringent environmental guidelines. The Higg ranking for elastane, often known as Lycra or spandex, attracts on a research by the world’s largest elastane producer, Invista, a subsidiary of the conglomerate Koch Industries.
The Higg Index itself was born a decade or so in the past amid a rising emphasis amongst shoppers on sustainability, environmental and animal-welfare considerations. It coincided with advances in synthetic-based materials that weren’t solely cheap however had new options that consumers craved, equivalent to improved elasticity or enhancements within the capacity to wick away perspiration.
Most of the garment manufacturers that sit on the board of the group that oversees the index revenue from two vogue megatrends that instantly benefited from advances in synthetics like these: quick vogue and athleisure. The quick vogue big H&M, for example, shows what it calls Higg-based sustainability profiles alongside a few of its merchandise.
“Higg’s members, quite a lot of them are quick vogue manufacturers, they usually all use primarily polyester. So it favors them to get polyester a greater ranking,” mentioned Brett Mathews, chief editor of Attire Insider, an industry-focused publication primarily based in London. However the knowledge used was “very poor,” he mentioned, and “the online result’s that the precise Higg rating, which says this fiber is extra sustainable than that one, is deceptive to shoppers.”
The Sustainable Attire Coalition mentioned firm knowledge was correct and complete, and had been collected consistent with {industry} requirements. Any hole between European and Chinese language polyester manufacturing can be small in comparison with different variations in producing the textiles, just like the knitting or weaving course of, it mentioned.
H&M, which sits on the coalition board, mentioned the index was primarily based on “standardized and verified third social gathering info,” and that the software was being “repeatedly developed and improved.” Walmart mentioned the Higg was not the one software it used to enhance the sustainability of its attire, and that it continued to evaluate the index’s capabilities. Invista didn’t reply to a request for remark.
