UNIQLO Joins Other Global Fashion Brands In Greenpeace’s Fashion Detox Commitment
April 4, 2013 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis UNIQLO, a brand and retail chain known for its casual comfortable style, has just become part of Greenpeace’s Detox Commitment Campaign, along with five other brands – Comptior des Cotonniers, g.u., Helmut Lang, Princesse tam tam, and Theory – all from the Japanese global design manufacturer Fast Retailing.
Photo courtesy of UNIQLO.
On April 23, 2011, Greenpeace released a report – Dirty Laundry 2: Hung Out to Dry - Unraveling the toxic trail from pipes to products – which found that products purchased as samples at UNIQLO stores in Moscow, Tokyo, and Hong Kong were found to contain hazardous chemicals known as nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency explains that, “NPEs are nonionic surfactants that are used in a wide variety of industrial applications and consumer products. Many of these, such as laundry detergents, are ‘down-the-drain’ applications. Some others, such as dust-control agents and deicers, lead to direct release to the environment.
“NP and NPEs have been found in environmental samples taken from freshwater, saltwater, groundwater, sediment, soil, and aquatic biota. NP is persistent in the aquatic environment, moderately bioaccumulative, and extremely toxic to aquatic organisms.
“NP has also been detected in human breast milk, blood, and urine, and is associated with reproductive and developmental effects in rodents. NP has also been shown to exhibit estrogenic properties in in vitro and in vivo assays. NP’s main use is in the manufacture of NPEs.”
Last November, Greenpeace released another report – Toxic Threads - The Big Fashion Stich-Up – which revealed the results done on 141 clothing items and exposed the link between textile manufacturing facilities using hazardous chemicals and the presence of chemicals in the final products.
One of the key findings was that all tested brands had at least several items containing NPEs, with the highest concentrations at 1,000 parts per million (ppm), in clothing items from Zara, Metersbonwe, Levi’s, C&A, Mango, Calvin Klein, Jack & Jones, and Mark & Spenser.