Rankings revolving around the health, environmental and social impact of products and companies are gaining their popularity among consumers who want to know if the goods they purchase are really healthy from different points of view. Recently, Popsop wrote about Nike’s ‘Environmental Apparel Design Tool,’ based on Nike’s Considered Design Index, as well as the Eco Index, and now the GoodGuide system, created back in 2007, gets into the spotlight. So far, over 95,000 food, toys, apparel, personal care & household products, babies & kids, electronics and appliances produced by both local and global companies (the list of those includes Starbucks, Levi’s, H&M, Nescafe, Nike, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Diesel to name a few) are thoroughly studied and ranked by experts of GoodGuide, with the results being available at the website and on the iPhone app.
Image: www.levistrauss.com/blogs/
The introduction to the apparel rating says, “Our [GoodGuide’s] highest rated apparel brands work closely with their supply chains to improve working conditions and minimize environmental impacts. The best brands disclose the identity of their suppliers, audit how they perform on labor issues and make public the steps they take to respond to violations. They also design their products using life cycle principles and educate consumers about how to reduce impacts. Our lowest rated apparel brands are made by companies that are not focused on improving working conditions or reducing environmental impacts across their supply chain.”
There are eight major categories with 1-15 subcategories in each, providing ratings of 118 brands. One of the top-rated brands is Levi’s, which was ranked first in the denim subcategory with a score of 7.4 out of 10 (51 jeans brands have been studied) and rests on the 6th place in the apparel category (the Dockers brand is on the 5th place there), leaving Timberland, Nike, Umbro, Converse, H&M, Gap, adidas, Reebok, Diesel, Lee and Wrangler behind. Ralph Lauren is in the very bottom of the list with just 3.7 points, and the highest ranked brand is Hae Now with 7.8 points.
In the fall of 2010, LS&Co, along with H&M, led a global ban on the practice of sandblasting in the retail industry, a practice that when done incorrectly, can cause serious health issues for workers. Most recently, the Levi’s brand unveiled the ‘Care Tag for Our Planet’ campaign, changing the global product care tags in Levi’s jeans to include instructions about ways consumers can reduce the environmental impact of their clothes by washing less, washing in cold water, line drying and donating to Goodwill when no longer needed. Last month, the Levi’s brand furthered its environmental efforts by launching Water<Less jeans, a collection of denim made using significantly less water in the finishing process.
“We don’t have nutrition labels on clothing yet, but GoodGuide is the first independent company to give consumers data to make informed comparisons about the clothes they purchase,” said Michael Kobori, Vice President of Social and Environmental Sustainability for Levi Strauss & Co. “We believe that increased transparency is the best way to empower consumers to support brands that are creating products in a thoughtful way.”