Aid by Trade Foundation Joins Make the Label Count Initiative to Promote Fair Assessment of Natural Fibres

The Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) has joined the Make the Label Count initiative, an alliance of natural fibre manufacturers, standards organisations, and environmental groups working to make sustainability claims for textiles in the EU fair and credible. Founded by Prof. Dr Michael Otto, AbTF sees joining Make the Label Count as a necessary step in promoting the fair and transparent assessment of product sustainability claims.

Make the Label Count was created in response to the development of new EU regulations for product statements on sustainability. Through its Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs), the EU Commission aims to meet demand for a standardised approach to comparing products’ environmental impact.

“We welcome the EU’s ongoing efforts to combat greenwashing in product advertising, including through verifiable sustainability claims. However, the EU’s current Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is misleading consumers,” explains Tina Stridde, the managing director of the Aid by Trade Foundation, adding, “As it stands, the regulations favour textile fibres made from fossil fuels such as oil while placing natural fibres—such as cotton verified under Cotton made in Africa or cashmere fibres verified under The Good Cashmere Standard—at a disadvantage, despite the natural fibres being biodegradable, recyclable, and produced in an environmentally friendly way.”

The PEF system is designed to promote green businesses. Its framework is provided by the Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs), which place natural fibres at a significant disadvantage. In its current form, the PEFCRs’ sustainability assessment returns more positive results for synthetic fibres than for natural fibres (e.g. sustainably produced cotton or cashmere fibres) because it takes into account neither the totality of fossil fuels’ environmental impact through the production process (e.g. of polyester fibres) nor the long-term consequences of the plastic waste and microplastic particles ending up in our environment through the finished products.

Together with other stakeholders, the Aid by Trade Foundation and Make the Label Count are now calling for the methodology behind the assessment to be reformed in order to provide a solid foundation for fully transparent consumer information and to help the industry achieve the environmental change that the EU is seeking.

Dalena White, Make the Label Count’s spokeswomen, states, “In addition to the socio-economic dimension of raw material production for numerous producers, the EU’s PEF methodology must take into account that oil-based materials such as polyester produce mountains of plastic waste and disperse tiny microplastic particles into our waters and soils. It is therefore urgent that aspects such as microplastic emissions, plastic waste, and circularity be included in the assessment.”

About Cotton made in Africa

Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) was founded in 2005 under the umbrella of the Hamburg-based Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF). CmiA is an internationally recognised standard for sustainably produced cotton from Africa, connecting African small-scale farmers with trading companies and fashion brands throughout the global textile value chain. The initiative’s objective is to employ trade, rather than donations, to protect the environment and to improve the living conditions of small-scale farmers and their families. Apart from the farming families, people working in ginneries also benefit from improved working conditions. Additional projects addressing schooling, health, environmental protection, and women’s empowerment contribute to better living conditions in farming communities as well.

About the Aid by Trade Foundation

Founded in 2005, the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) is an internationally renowned non-profit organisation that works throughout the world to promote sustainable raw materials. Its activities make a decisive and measurable contribution to improving the living conditions of people and animals while protecting the environment. AbTF takes a practical approach by creating and maintaining a variety of standards to verify raw materials: Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA), Cotton made in Africa Organic (CmiA Organic), Regenerative Cotton Standard® (RCS), and The Good Cashmere Standard® (GCS). A global alliance of textile companies and brands purchases the verified raw materials, paying a licensing fee to AbTF’s marketing company, ATAKORA Fördergesellschaft GmbH. The payment of this fee entitles partners to sell their goods under the standards’ labels. As the challenges facing textile companies and small-scale farmers grow, the standards have a major role to play in ensuring their resilience and future viability. AbTF collaborates closely with industry experts and with specialists in animal and nature protection.

About Make the Label Count

Make the Label Count is a global coalition representing 46 natural fibre producers, manufacturers, brands and environmental groups. Its aim is to ensure that claims made by the fashion and textiles industry are credible and accurate, empowering EU consumers to make informed choices about the clothes they wear.
Launched in 2021, Make the Label Count supports the European Union’s ambitious proposals for sustainable textiles and has been an active contributor to the work of policymakers mitigating the fashion industry’s negative impact on people and planet.