CHILD LABOUR CAN BE ELIMINATED

SHIRLEY TECHNOLOGIES
TEXTILE TESTING
PRESS RELEASE

June 23, 2008.

CHILD LABOUR CAN BE ELIMINATED IF RETAILERS ADOPT EXISTING BUT IGNORED AUDIT PROCESS.

The abuse and exploitation of child workers highlighted in Monday evening’s Panorama programme could be virtually eliminated if a voluntary international textile testing certification process was adopted in the UK and across Europe, says one of the world’s leading textile testing laboratories.

Manchester, UK, based Shirley Technologies (STL) is a member of the ‘Made in Green’ Group which tests and audits textiles and production processes for dangerous substances, and evidence of human rights abuse in the production chain.

Those products passing the tests and audit are awarded a “Made in Green” www.madeingreen.com label which can be stitched into clothing or textiles and indicates the product has been produced in respect of social responsibility, ecological and environmental guidelines.

“The programme was interesting in that it showed up the problems in auditing and tracking supplier chains in the textile industry. The advantage of ‘Made in Green’ is that it tests the product range, audits the processing in the factory, audits the environmental impact and ensures compliance with social responsibility guidelines all at once,” said Phil Whitaker of STL.

“Obviously, we are not party to all the detail, but we would offer the cautious observations that the social responsibility audit carried out on the factory shown in Monday night’s programme appeared not to have ‘cross referenced’ to production processes and products. Obviously, hand sewn items are going to be labour intensive and time consuming and so it seems to follow that in order to hand sew sequins or any other similar accessory on hundreds of thousands of garments in a very short time it would take a small army of people to complete on schedule.”

The “Made in Green” testing and audit process involves three elements: Oeko-Tex 100 certification which guarantees products do not contain substances harmful to health, Oeko-Tex 1000 which confirms current environmental legislation compliance, and CCRS-AITEX, which ensures compliance with corporate social responsibility guidelines including child labour.

However STL recently asked 2,000 UK shoppers did they recognise Oeko-Tex labelling (which can also be a stand-alone certification), and only 6% said they knew what it was.

STL has been testing textiles for harmful substances for more than 80 years, but no more than a handful of UK manufacturers and retailers submit their products for audit of the production process which would confirm compliance or contravention of human rights of workers.

Made in Green is a mark which certifies that the product, throughout its traceability chain, has been manufactured in factories which respect the environment and the universal rights of workers.

Shirley Technologies Ltd (STL) is a UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accredited laboratory providing competitive, independent, expert textile testing, certification, advisory and investigation services across the traditional and specialist textile industries.

STL is an independent subsidiary of BTTG Ltd, formerly the British Textile Technology Group. With more than 80 years experience, Shirley Technologies Ltd provides unrivalled and expert reassurance through its technical services to a global network of clients which include manufacturers, retailers, the legal profession, police, consumers and related interest groups including Trading Standards. Highly qualified and experienced technical staff work directly with clients to ensure that they receive the best advice and service in a wide range of technical areas.

Ends