The index ranks polyester as one of the world’s most sustainable fabrics, for example, using data on European polyester production provided by a plastics industry group, even though most of the world’s polyester is made in Asia, typically using a dirtier power grid and under less stringent environmental regulations. The Higg rating for elastane, also known as Lycra or spandex, is based on a study by what was then the world’s largest elastane producer, Invista, a subsidiary of the Koch Industries conglomerate. (Invista sold its Lycra business in 2019.)
The Higg Index itself was born about a decade ago amid a growing emphasis among consumers on concerns about sustainability, the environment, and animal welfare. It coincided with advances in synthetic fabrics that were not only cheap but had new features that buyers craved, such as increased stretch or improved wicking ability.
Many of the clothing brands on the board of the group that oversees the index benefit from two fashion megatrends that benefited directly from advances in synthetics like these: fast fashion and athleisure. Fast-fashion giant H&M, for example, displays what it calls Higg-based sustainability profiles alongside some of its products.
“Higg members, a lot of them are fast fashion brands and they all wear mostly polyester. So it’s in their favor to get a better grade on polyester,” said Brett Mathews, editor-in-chief of Apparel Insider, a London-based industry-focused publication. But the data used was “very poor,” he said, and “the net result is that the actual Higg score, which says this fiber is more sustainable than that, is misleading to consumers.”
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition said the company’s data was accurate and complete, and had been collected in accordance with industry standards. Any gap between European and Chinese polyester production would be small compared to other differences in textile production, such as weaving or weaving process, he said.
H&M, which sits on the coalition’s board of directors, said the index was based on “standardized and verified third-party information” and that the tool was “continually developed and improved”. Walmart said that Higg was not the only tool it used to improve the sustainability of its clothing and that it continued to evaluate the capabilities of the index. Invista did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: www.nytimes.com