One of our focus areas is determining the credibility of material sustainability content claims. This requires a robust traceability program with more transparency in our supply chain, and established checkpoints to validate claims. We're working with industry partners to help establish and adopt verifiable standards and systems.
Our progress to date includes:
PVC-free: We're very confident that materials specified as "PVC-free" by suppliers are PVC-free. If we need to verify materials, PVC content can readily be verified through 3rd-party testing.
Recycled content: We currently rely on our suppliers to provide information for validation of recycled content claims. In many cases, third-party certification of recycled content isn't available, but we're working on improved transparency and means of verification.
Organically grown cotton: Third-party certification standards and systems exist for organically grown cotton. However, transaction certificates for chain of custody beyond the yarn spinning stage are not readily available as part of our existing supply chain. We have transparency of our supply chain for the majority of our organically grown cotton products, but are still establishing systems, in collaboration with our suppliers and industry, to obtain transaction certificates to the finished product stage. We're trying to close any information gaps through closer communication with our suppliers.
Bluesign-approved material: The bluesign certification process traces bluesign-approved materials. Each approved material has a certificate of authenticity which supports our chain of custody requirements for traceability.