Tracy Mak of Instyle was invited by The American Association for Contract Textiles (ACT), to the U.S.A. to take part in developing a standard for the design and manufacturing of sustainable textiles.
Instyle’s Environment Manager, Mak met with industry, environmental agencies and non-profit environmental organisations and representatives at a two-day meeting in January at NSF International’s headquarters in Michigan, U.S.A.
The Sustainable Textile Standard will be a collaborative effort between ACT, GreenBlue – a non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of ‘cradle-to-cradle’ Design Principles, and NSF International – a Standards Development body.
Mak believes the standard has the potential to advance industry practices, ‘The draft standard is comprehensive because it addresses raw materials, safety of chemical inputs, energy, water, recyclability and social responsibility. The final standard will hopefully become a blueprint for an Australian industry standard’.
The standard is to be further developed by working groups and Mak was asked to take the position as the chair of the workgroup investigating International textile standards.
