EcoLabels & Certifications: Textile Certifications

Today's installment of Deborah Fuller's Eco-Labels and Certifications series focuses on Textile Certifications.

SMaRT/MTS –Sustainable Textile
The goals of the SMaRT Sustainable Textile Standard are to:

• Increase the economic value of sustainable textile throughout the supply chain by enhancing market demandfor sustainable textile products.
• Provide information that enables specifiers to sort out the complex information on sustainable attributes.
• Identify other consensus based standards and Sustainable Textile.
• Educate and instruct all stakeholders in the textile supplychain.
• Encourage competition between manufacturers and their suppliers to seek out or develop environmentally preferable processes, practices, power sources, and materials.
• This Standard is intended to help raw material suppliers, converters, manufacturers and end-users.

Contributes to: USGBC –LEED credits ID 1.1-1.4
non profit organization
www.mts.sustainableproducts.com

Crypton Green/C2C & SCS Certification
Crypton Green is the first high-performance fabric system to receive a Silver Cradle-to-Cradle™ certification as well as the SCS Gold Indoor Advantage™ certification. Chemical formulations have been optimized and the product has been thoroughly tested for emissions of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), including formaldehyde and aldehydes.

In extensive testing with SCS, Crypton Green complies to the "Collaborative for High Performance Schools,"Section 1350, a standard that specifies maximum thresholds for 80 organic compounds with possible indoor sources.

Contributes to: USGBC –LEED credits ID 1.1-1.4
for profit organization
www.cryptonfabric.com

Green Shield Finish
GreenShield is the first textile finish in the world to receive this pioneering certification from SCS.Unlike other textile finishes on the market today, GreenShield uses on average 8 times less fluorocarbon to deliver similar or better water and oil repellency performance on most fabrics. Fluorocarbons have been shown to be persistent in the environment and bio-accumulative, a term which specifically refers to the accumulation of a toxic substance in various tissues of a living organism. In this manner, compounds such as fluorocarbons can potentially be harmful to life.GreenShield is made using proprietary processes that leverage the principles of green nanotechnology to eliminate waste, reduce energy use, and use only water-based solvents.

Contributes to: USGBC –LEED credits ID 1.1-1.4
for profit organization
www.cryptonfabric.com

Check back soon for our final installment: Multiple Attribute Certifications