A new textile industry group has been formed to Reduce the Impact of Textiles on the Environment - RITE. The group was formed in response to a growing need for an informative advice group on the changing requirements of the textile industry. The University of Leeds, Marks & Spencer and Ecotextile News have all joined forces to try and offer advice and fact-based information to minimise the impact textile production has on the environment.

Initally a steering group has been formed, however one of the main objectives is to create a world wide panel of prestigious worldwide advisors from all areas of the textile and apparel supply chain.

For more information log onto www.ritegroup.org

Better thinking, the ethical branding consultancy, has completely redesigned its website - take a look at http://www.betterthinking.co.uk. They’ve also designed and written an online magazine, dedicated to the companies who are making positive steps towards becoming more ethical and sustainable, without losing their sex appeal. Involvement is the theme for the first issue and can be viewed at http://www.betterthinking.co.uk./magazine/index.html

* Better thinking is a unique team of thinkers and doers, creating dramatic and impactful ways for businesses to become more inspirational, ethical and successful.
* The perfect t-shirt is a self-initiated project to create the world’s most socially positive and environmentally responsible garment.

Critic’s have been going mad for the documentry film ‘Black Gold, Wake up and Smell the Coffee. The film is due out in June and is being reviewed as a parallel to Morgan Spurlock’s, ‘Super Size Me’.

Black Gold has the same potential to basically shock consumers into thinking again about what they are buying and threatens to exploit the multibillion-pound coffee industry.

The documentry follows Tadesse Meskela, one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.

Definitely one to watch…

www.blackgoldmovie.com

Honda F1’s 2007 “Earth Car” has been designed to promote environmental awareness, how can this be?

The car will be responsible for emitting approx 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide this season which works out probably more than 5 times the amount an average British car produces in a year.

The racing season also requires Button and Barrichello to fly about 158,000 kilometres between their Monaco bases and the race circuits, producing a further 28,638 tonnes of CO2 .

Is the only thing green about this car it’s colour?

For those of you interested in supporting the fair trade movement you will be pleased to hear that there has been a book written entitled ‘50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade’ by Miles Litvinoff and John Madeley.

This book provides 50 reasons why we should be buying fair trade and the benefits it brings to people and the planet. Its an inspiring account of how every consumer can play a part in improving lives and making global trade work better for people in the Third World.

‘50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade’ by Miles Litvinoff and John Madeley is published in paperback by Pluto Books (www.plutobooks.com), London £7.99

Originally conceived at the 2002 Intercot conference and finally published in 2005, Global Organic Textile Standard, ‘GOTS’ were developed by a group of international bodies with a broad range of expertise in sustainable textiles. In addition to the Soil Association, other contributors to the development of GOTS included the Organic Trade Association (OTA) and the Institute of Market Ecology (IMO).

The new standards, rewritten in Plain English, also include more detailed criteria on product quality testing, residue testing and social justice.

It is hoped that the Soil Association’s adoption of GOTS will resolve many of the frustrations experienced in achieving textile certification. This is particularly important where we are not responsible for product certification through the whole supply chain.

To date, two major international certifier s, IMO and Control Union have also agreed to adopt GOTS. It is anticipated that more certifiers will follow, helping GOTS to establish themselves as the ‘benchmark’ international standard for organic textile products.

Source: Certification News

has anyone seen the latest ethical online news forum that was launched this month

www.ethical-pulse.org

its worth signing up to…

‘Our cotton and canvas bags are made from natural cotton which is unbleached and undyed. In fact we call the cloth ‘loomstate’ as it is exactly as it comes off the weaving looms. However, although we do not have organic accreditation for this cloth, we buy from reputable suppliers in China who assure us that the raw cotton is grown using organic, not chemical, fertilizers. We have looked at buying properly accredited organic cloth but this is not available in China (they have no form of official Government accreditation). In fact buyers must be careful of other manufacturers/suppliers who do advertise ‘organic’ cotton bags as we know that the majority (if not all) of them do not have proper accreditation, particularly those sourced from India or Pakistan. We are aware that some of our competitors produce and print what they claim are organic cotton bags overseas and, in order to overcome the problems of timescale, deliver them in by using air freight. We vehemently object to this on the grounds of inefficient use of energy.

The only true accreditation we have come across is cotton grown and woven in the USA but it is impractical for us to buy there, ship to our factory in China, have them made, then ship to us in the UK. Having them made in the US is again out of the question (for our market place anyway) due to price.’