Puma makes ‘detox’ pledge

HERZOGENAURACH - Sportswear giant Puma has responded to a Greenpeace challenge to ‘detox’, by publicly committing to the elimination of all releases of hazardous chemicals from its entire product lifecycle, and across its global supply chain by 2020. Puma’s move comes less than two weeks after Greenpeace launched its “Dirty Laundry” report, which identified commercial links between major clothing brands and suppliers responsible for releasing hazardous and hormone-disrupting chemicals into Chinese rivers. Greenpeace said that Puma’s statement incorporated many elements seen as crucial to bringing about systematic change within the textile industry: a precautionary approach to chemicals management, a clear timeline for reaching zero discharge, and the elimination of all discharges of hazardous chemicals throughout its supply chain and product lifecycle – including those coming from polluting production activities such as wet processing. Puma, part of the French luxury group PPR, has also stated it will publish an action plan within the next eight weeks, which will detail how it intends to deliver on its commitment. The ‘Dirty Laundry’ report, which was launched at press conferences in Beijing and Hong Kong, earlier this month, found hazardous chemicals in samples of wastewater discharges taken at two textile processing facilities, Youngor Textile City Complex and the Well Dyeing Factory Limited in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas.