Impressions - August 2014 - 39

decisions regarding how things are run,
products it uses, operational choices
it makes and training its staff receives.
These seals or certiﬁcations aren't simply handed out like jelly beans. To obtain one, certain strict demands must be
met, procedures and policies must be
in place, and best-in-industry practices
that must be followed. That's the value
in achieving the certiﬁcation; it sets you
apart from everyone else and illustrates
your leadership.
However, there are plenty of companies with great sustainability programs
that either don't have the certiﬁcation yet
or aren't interested in doing the work to
obtain one. That's OK. Look for transparency with their programs and a source for
more information. See if you can ﬁnd their
metrics on their websites, a downloadable
whitepaper or another link to the facts.
There's an old business adage that
states, "You can't manage what you don't
measure." Any sustainability program
worth its salt has some metrics associated
with it. Companies measure things to see
improvement. How much energy was
saved? How many tons of material didn't
go to a landﬁll because of recycling? How
much carbon was reduced?
Martine Padilla, executive director for
the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership, says, "The easiest way to ﬁnd out if a
company has a real sustainability program
is to just ask simple questions. Do you
have a sustainability committee? Have
you written a sustainability mission statement? Where is it located? What is your
overall thinking regarding sustainability
for your company?" Answering these
questions is key to determining how robust your sustainability program is within
your company.

as being made from bamboo. Don't let
this happen to you. Honesty always is the
best policy.
TerraChoice (sinsofgreenwashing.org)
released its "7 Sins of Greenwashing" to
help ferret out the problem. Following is
a version that's paraphrased for the decorated apparel industry:
Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off. This is
committed by suggesting a product is green
based on an unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. For example,
bamboo-sourced apparel has been touted
as being environmentally friendly, but it
actually uses a considerably larger amount
of water than other ﬁber sources, as the
bamboo ﬁbers naturally are too short to be
spun into yarn. Water and chemicals are
introduced to help the process, so bamboo
requires more resources to be made into
material than other fabric types.
Sin of No Proof. This is committed by
an environmental claim that cannot be
supported by easily accessible supporting
information or a reliable third-party certiﬁcation. This also is when your shop claims
to have a sustainability program or offer a
sustainable product line, but doesn't back
up the claim with any supporting evidence, metrics or certiﬁcations. This is easy
to correct, as you can post the information
on your website or obtain a certiﬁcation
through the Sustainable Green Printing
Partnership (sgppartnership.org).

Sin of Vagueness. This is when every
claim is so poorly deﬁned or broad that its
real meaning is likely to be misunderstood
by the consumer. Touting water-based ink
as being a greener alternative to plastisol,
for example, could be misconstrued by the
consumer, as it actually uses more energy
to cure, has more waste ink in the process,
and requires different emulsion and care
that a lot of shops are not adequately set
up to run consistently. It's not greener; it's
just different.
Sin of Irrelevance. Companies committing this sin are making an environmental claim that may be truthful, but
is unimportant or unhelpful to consumers seeking environmentally preferable
choices. Advertising lead-free ink could
be an example, as virtually all textile inks
currently used in the apparel decorating
industry are manufactured without lead,
and subject to regulation according to
Consumer Product Safety Improvement
Act (CPSIA) standards.
Sin of Lesser of Two Evils. Certain
claims may be true within a product category, but they may risk distracting the
consumer from the greater environmental
impact of the category as a whole. Advertising 50/50 apparel blanks made from
recycled plastic bottles, but are made overseas and imported into the United States, is
a good example of this.
Sin of Fibbing. Simply put, this is
committed by making claims that are most

WHAT IF IT'S ME?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
has released some guidelines (found at
ecfr.gov) for companies that market their
services or products as green. These guidelines are built to allow companies to make
better decisions and avoid making environmental claims that are unfair or deceptive under current law.
Yes, this means you can get into some
hot water with the FTC if you stray into
making false claims. In 2013, four national
retailers (Sears, Amazon, Macy's and Leon
Max) were penalized $1.26 million for
falsely labeling products made from rayon
impressionsmag.com

Investing in new equipment
may reduce the amount of product
usage in your shop. Using fewer
consumables always is considered a
sustainable practice.

August 2014 | Impressions

http://www.sinsofgreenwashing.org http://www.sgppartnership.org http://www.ecfr.gov http://www.impressionsmag.com

Impressions - August 2014

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