The CELC (European Flax and Hemp Federation) positions itself as a pioneer in environmental labelling. It exclusively presented the first results of its Flax Life Cycle Study (LCA) at Première Vision.
The Agricultural Confederation, the only European guarantor of all technical, scientific and economic data on flax, brings together all stages of production and processing of flax and hemp, 80% of which are produced between France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is therefore today the first industry to adopt the uniform method introduced by the European Commission: the PEF (for Product Environmental Footprint, or Product Environmental Footprint).
This measures the environmental impact of products and is based on the analysis of their life cycle. Its goal is to create an accurate and reliable framework for a reproducible and comparable environmental assessment of products. To arrive at a consistent score, the PEF uses 16 categories ranging from climate change to resource depletion, from water use to soil pollution, from freshwater ecotoxicity to ozone depletion.
While food and textiles have been identified as the two priority industries to experiment with introducing such a metric that measures the environmental footprint of products, flax is positioning itself as a frontrunner. The method will now allow weavers and brands using the fiber to have reliable data to calculate the impact of products made from flax and hemp.
The first results relate to the first steps of processing, such as sorting the fiber, where the textile components are extracted before spinning. They are very satisfactory. The quality of the final data was rated with a grade of 1.6. This “grade” corresponds to a rating of “very good quality” on a scale from 1 (the best grade) to 5. “These results underline the added value of the Epen Flax and Masters of Linen certifications and confirm Flax’s place on the podium of sustainable fibres”, emphasized Marie-Emmanuelle Belzung, General Delegate of the CELC.
The results provide a starting point for the industry. Further analysis of the processing stages will be carried out to calculate the average life cycle assessment of European linen products from yarn to knitwear to fabric. The new eco-label will ultimately transform manufacturing processes, promoting sustainable design among brands. In fact, customers, increasingly sensitive to environmental responsibility, will gradually get used to comparing the scores displayed on the products. So the race for the environmental score is on.
This article was previously published on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ.