Greenpeace targets Adidas, Nike and Puma over links to polluting Chinese factories
By Jessica Shankleman
Leading clothing brands have today been urged to “detox” their supply chains after Greenpeace found that Chinese factories linked to Nike, Adidas and Puma were discharging hazardous and persistent chemicals that contain hormone-disrupting properties.
Greenpeace said that the ‘wet processing’ of textiles in China, including dyeing, washing, printing and fabric finishing, can lead to the discharge of large quantities of waste water containing toxic substances.
A report published by Greenpeace today focused on two facilities, Youngor Textile City Complex and the Well Dyeing Factory Limited in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas. Both have commercial links to several major international and national clothing brands, including Adidas, Nike and China’s biggest sportswear company Li Ning.
Other companies said to be linked to the facilities include Abercrombie & Fitch, Calvin Klein, Converse, H&M, Lacoste and Puma.
Responding to the accusations, Youngor Group, Bauer Hockey, Converse, Cortefiel, H&M, Nike and Puma confirmed that they had commercial relationships with the two factories, but that they make no use of the controversial wet processes undertaken by the Youngor Group.
Greenpeace maintained that the companies should still use their positions to pressure the factories into eliminating polluting chemical processes.
“Greenpeace is challenging the clothing brands named in this report to eliminate releases of hazardous chemicals from their supply chain and products, and we are calling on trendsetting brands that have a major influence on their supply chains, such as Adidas and Nike, to take the lead,” said Yifang Li, Greenpeace East Asia toxics campaigner.
Greenpeace is also calling on governments to take action and work towards the elimination of hazardous chemical discharges within one generation.
An Adidas spokeswoman explained that the company’s relationship with Youngor Group is restricted to the cutting and sewing of garments.
“In mid-June, Greenpeace contacted the Adidas Group, claiming that a supplier, Youngor Group Ltd in Ningbo, China, was discharging pollutants into a nearby river,” she told BusinessGreen.
“The Adidas Group has investigated these claims [concluding that it] does not source fabrics from Youngor Group, which would involve the use of dyestuffs, chemicals and their associated water treatment processes.”
A spokeswoman from Puma similarly denied any direct links to the Youngor factory in question, telling BusinessGreen that Puma’s business relationship with the Youngor Group is limited to the company’s Youngor Knitting unit, which it believes operates at a different location to the Youngor Group fabric mill.
“To our best knowledge, and according to the information from our audit reports, Youngor Knitting operates as a ready-made garments factory which only engages in cutting, sewing and finishing of apparel products,” she said.
“Therefore, we conclude that Youngor Knitting is not engaged in any industrial wet processes and does not directly discharge any waste water into the river Fenghua. Youngor Knitting is also not using any fabrics of the Youngor Group for the production of Puma goods.”
A Nike spokesman similarly denied direct links to the wet processes in question.
“Nike Inc currently sources from two factories in the Youngor Group, Ningbo Youngor Knitting and Underwear and Ningbo Youngor Sportswear in Zhejiang province,” he said.
“These factories are cut and sew facilities; they do not have manufacturing processes that include the use of the chemicals called out by Greenpeace. Both factories feed only sanitary waste water into the water treatment facility.”
(Source: www.businessgreen.com )