<aside> 💡 Measuring product footprints can take in a number of factors and is normally focused on CO2 emissions, water consumption and chemical use
A product footprint should consider the full lifecycle of a garment, from raw material extraction, through to customer use and disposal
At L’Estrange we currently use the Higg tool which is a platform specific to the textile industry which allows us to look at the full lifecycle of a garment
The most important thing to remember when considering a product footprint should be how this relates to its use. For example, if the footprint of a garment is 15kg and it is worn 100 times (0.15kg/wear), then this is much better than a product that has a footprint of 5kg but is only worn twice (2.5kg/wear). This is where the idea of versatility and longevity comes into play, and is also one of the reasons why we believe that fast fashion is such a drain on the planet and its limited resources
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<aside> 💡 You may have seen recently in the press that the Higg Material Sustainability Index has come under fire as brands have been accused of used it for Greenwashing. We are aware of the reasons for this, and the limitations of the Index, however this is still the best tool available for the fashion industry at the present time and as long as we do not use the data to make marketing claims for our products then we believe use of the Higg Index is currently the best way to measure our impact
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