Glossary

Active Product Life

I’m sure this term has different definitions, depending on the industry. For footwear and apparel, this means the time the article is usable for its intended purpose.

If you wear your favorite pair of shoes every day for a year and walk a hole into the sole, the active product life of that pair of shoes was one year. If you get those shoes resoled and wear them another year, the active product life was two years.

Extending the active product life for your items is a key principle for responsible consumerism.

B Corp

A B Corp is a company that prioritizes doing good, as well as making money. This is not the same as a nonprofit, as B Corps do make money, but they “balance profit with purpose”. This is a pretty tough certification to achieve. Brands with a B Corp certification are committed to continuously reduce their enviromental impact and are held accountable by the B Corp certifying body, B Lab.

Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)

BCI is a nonprofit group that aims to reduce the environmental impact of growing cotton. BCI is often associated with cotton coming from regions where historically yield is king and conservation has not necessarily been prioritized. BCI works directly with farmers to implement environmentally preferred practices with respect to water and chemicals usage and soil health.

Biodegradable

Biodegradable on its own is an unregulated term (see marine biodegradable exception below). Generally speaking biodegradable materials will break down over time, but there is no expected timeframe and no specifications on the toxicity of the matter left behind.

You have to be careful with the term biodegradable. The verbs biodegrade and decompose are used interchangeably, but biodegradable and compostable are not the same. Compostable is a regulated term, which indicates an item will break down over time into non-toxic organic matter, a.k.a. compost (usable plant fertilizer).

Marine Biodegradable falls into a category all its own. This is a regulated term that indicates the material is designed to break down into non-toxic matter in an ocean environment.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity refers to how varied the ecosystems within your soil are (see soil health). The more varied your ecosystems, the more stable and resilient your soil is. This means less human intervention in managing nutrients and water needs.

bluesign

Most RSLs (see Restricted Substances List) control the substances that remain in the final product, to ensure they are safe for the consumer. Using a traditional RSL does not necessarily ensure the safety of the workers within the factory or prevent potentially hazardous air and water emissions from reaching the communities near the factory.

bluesign is a proprietary certification that goes above and beyond a traditional RSL, to control all substances used during manufacturing, to protect the consumer, the workers, and the environment.

Carbon Sequestering

Remember photosynthesis from 2nd grade? Plants breathe in CO2 and breathe out Oxygen. Humans breathe in Oxygen and breathe out CO2. Long story short, when plants breathe in that CO2, they store carbon in their root systems. If the soil is undisturbed that carbon stays locked in the soil, nurturing plants, for hundreds of years. This process of intentionally creating conditions to pull carbon back into the soil and keep it there is carbon sequestering.

Child Labor

Child Labor is not necessarily illegal. Many of us grew up with part time jobs as kids. The eligible age for working varies greatly by country and is heavily influenced by cultural norms. Generally speaking footwear and apparel brands will set a minimum age for factory work that is linked to completion of compulsory schooling in that region. Additionally, factory work can be dangerous. Factories must maintain permits for individuals under the age of 18 and grant special accomodations for hours and assigned tasks. Ethical brands will conduct onsite and documentation audits to ensure factory compliance.

Climate Beneficial

I have not actually come across this much in the marketplace, but I’m monitoring it. Climate Beneficial Wool & Cotton fibers are sourced from ranches and farms that use regenerative methods to pull carbon into the soil and keep it there, where it belongs. These certified fibers are verified by the Fibershed organization.

Compostable

Compostable is a regulated term, which indicates an item will break down in a specified timeframe (usually 90-180 days), into non-toxic organic matter, called compost (aka usable plant fertilizer).

Compostable items are designed to decompose into organic matter under specific, controlled conditions - like in an industrial composting facility or your controlled backyard compost bin or tumbler.

Similar to biodegradable, you need to be careful with compostable. Compostable items must be processed per their instructions. Backyard compostable does not mean you can bury it in your backyard. Likewise a compostable item that ends up in landfill is just trash; it will not decompose in the promised timeframe. The main reason for this is the composting process requires oxygen and temperature regulation, which are not readily available in a landfill - so the composting process is halted.

The verbs biodegrade and decompose are used interchangeably, but biodegradable and compostable are not the same. See the definition of biodegradable.

Cradle to Cradle Certified (C2C Certified)

The book Cradle to Cradle, by McDonough and Braungart was required reading for my intro to Industrial and Systems Engineering class at Ohio State. The book challenges the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” mantra, as it perpetuates the cradle to grave model. The cradle to cradle principle asks designers to think about end of life from the very beginning. A Cradle to Cradle certified product has been designed to nourish something new, at the end of its intended product life.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

aka Social Compliance

The purpose of an ESG program or team is to ensure the company is compliant (or beyond compliant) to all regulations related to the environment and the business’s ethical impacts. Ethical impact is also sometimes called social impact and includes topics like fair wages, good working conditions, transparency, and business integrity.

Fair Trade Certified

I’ve seen products labeled two ways with respect to Fair Trade Certified. The first is the product itself is certified. This is often seen on food items like chocolate or coffee. A Fair Trade Certified product means the individuals who grew and harvested the raw materials were paid a living wage, meaning enough to cover basic necessities like food, housing, healthcare, education, etc. Unfortunately, the minimum wage in many places is insufficient for all basic needs.

The second way I’ve seen the Fair Trade label is on clothing, where the garment will say "Fair Trade Certified Factoy”. This means the individuals who work in the final factory (tier 1) are paid a living wage, but it does not necessarily speak to the rest of the supply chain. That said, I am hopeful this will improve with time. There are several Fair Trade certifying bodies and their efforts will hopefully continue to improve transparency and business ethics further up the supply chains.

Forced Labor

aka Modern Slavery

Forced Labor is, as it sounds, any type of coerced labor. It’s often hard to see forced labor in real time. Red flags include things like inaccurate or incomplete pay stubs, late payments, compulsory overtime, predatory recruiting practices, withholding documentation of foreign migrant workers, etc.

Foreign Migrant Workers

Individuals who cross geographical border for work; often temporarily for seasonal opportunities. These individuals are at a heightened risk for coerced labor, as they often don’t speak the local language and can unintentionally agree to unfavorable terms.

International Labor Organization (ILO)

The ILO is part of the UN. They establish labor standards with the mission to “advance opportunities for safe, fair, and productive work for everyone.” Its a good idea to reference ILO standards when writing or revising your company code of conduct, supplier code of conduct, animal welfare policies, etc.

Leather Working Group (LWG)

Based on industry best practices, the LWG created and maintains the standard for responsible leather manufacturing, with respect to rawhide traceability, chemicals management, water and resource conservation, tannery health and safety, etc.

The LWG audits and rates tanneries against the standard. Ratings are Gold (top performance), Silver (strong performance), Bronze (meets minimum standard requirements), Audited (is still working to meet minimum standard).

No Till Farming

Tilling is the process of turning your soil to prepare for planting or remove weeds. This practice is damaging to a healthy field. Tilling breaks up the microbiomes in your soil, which releases carbon back into the atmosphere. Additionally loose soil is easily carried away with the wind or water, taking critical nutrients away from your field.

No till farmers disrupt the soil as little as possible. They leave crop residue (stalks, stems, leaves, roots, etc) from each harvest to decompose and nourish the soil. For example, soybeans are planted immediately after wheat harvest. The young soy plants are protected and nourished by the decomposing wheat stalks.

As with all gardens, healthy soil will produce weeds as well as your cash crop. No till farmers use targeted herbicides to remove unwanted weeds, which compete with the cash crop for nutrients. There is a movement for no till, organic, but it is difficult to get right.

OEKO-TEX (Standard 100)

OEKO-TEX is one of many restricted substances programs (see RSL). The key difference between this program and others is testing. To be OEKO-TEX certified, the final product must be tested for hazardous chemicals. Other RSL programs rely on factory compliance and component level testing.

OEKO-TEX has several certifications. The Standard 100 is the one I see most commonly in the marketplace. This is their baseline certification, indicating the product is free of 1,000+ harmful chemicals. The also have certifications for environmentally friendlier textiles (MADE IN GREEN and ECO PASSPORT), but I don’t see these out in the marketplace much, yet.

Organic (USDA Organic)

No synthetic chemicals were used to grow this product (or the product’s raw materials). As with all gardens, healthy soil will produce weeds as well as your cash crop. Since organic farmers avoid synthetic chemicals, they use targeted tilling to remove unwanted weeds, which compete with the cash crop for nutrients. Tilling damages soil health, as it breaks up microbioms in the soil and releases carbon into the atmosphere. There is a movement for no till, organic, but it is difficult to get right.

Regenerative

Most of our collective consumer habits take from the earth. Many sustainability initiatives aim to do less bad. Regenerative efforts move from “doing less bad” to “actively doing good”.

Renewable

A renewable resource is one that is not depleted when used, think wind or solar power. This term is also used for crops that are releatively fast to regrow, like sugarcane or bamboo.

Restricted Substances List (RSL)

An RSL is a list of chemicals that are limited or prohibited in a brand’s products. The list is shared with suppliers, accompanied with an RSL Policy and backstopped by an RSL compliance program, often including some testing. At a minimum an RSL should ensure compliance to all regulated chemicals in your relevant regions (where you produce, where you sell, etc.). However, some RSLs go beyond compliance and limit or prohibit chemicals that are not yet regulated, but are known to be potentially problematic.

Soil Health

Dirt is lifeless. Soil is a living ecosystem of bacteria, bugs, nutrients, water, air - everything you need to support life.

The term soil health refers to the soil’s ability to sustain life without intervention.

Tier - Supply Chain Tiers

Refers to the hierarchy of a supply chain. When in doubt, follow the money. A tier 1 supplier is a partner you pay directly. A tier 2 supplier is someone your tier 1 supplier pays. A tier 3 supplier is someone a tier 2 supplier pays.

One of the biggest challenges in the footwear and apparel industry is poor transparency of tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers.

US Cotton Trust Protocol

The US Cotton Trust Protocol aims to increase sustainability and transparency in the cotton supply chain. The program is three fold. First, farmers participating in this program must self-report data from their cotton fields related to water, energy, chemicals utilization, yeild, soil health, farming practices, etc. Second, farmers must commit to reducing their impacts and show results over time. Third, cotton harvested from farms participating in the US Cotton Trust Protocol is tracked via block-chain from field, to ginner, to spinner, to mill, to factory. This additional transparency adds value to the tracked cotton for brands focused on sourcing responsible materials.

WRAP

Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) is a 3rd party auditing body that certifies footwear and apparel factories as lawful, ethical, and safe. This standard ensures individuals are paid and treated legally, but it does not go above and beyond regulatory compliance (see Fair Trade for beyond compliance certification).