Differentiating your apparel, textile and footwear products in a crowded marketplace

What can you do to help your products stand out to cautious, frugal, and intelligent textile and apparel consumers?

Fashion retailers, brands and manufacturers must find a way to differentiate their sustainable, quality apparel, textiles and footwear in the marketplace to increasingly skeptical consumers. These stakeholders must also stay ahead of an increasingly complex and constantly evolving regulatory landscape.

But how can manufacturers and brands do all that without taking focus away from innovating and trend-making? Apparel and footwear stakeholders can get much-needed help by partnering with a trusted, science-based, third-party provider of testing and certification.

UL Solutions has several state-of-the-art retail and consumer products laboratories worldwide, including one in Vietnam. Some of the services we can help you with include:

·????? Textile, apparel and footwear testing

·????? Chemical management [AS1]?offerings for consumer products

·????? Chemical testing and analysis services for consumer products

·????? Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in textile and leather

·????? Services for quality and sustainable luxury brands

·????? Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) certification and testing programs

Textile, apparel and footwear testing

We support your drive to exceed consumer expectations for safety, quality and durability and to meet sustainability goals. Our state-of-the-art laboratories around the world can test for quality and durability — criteria based on consumer expectations — and we have significant experience in helping fashion and luxury brands maintain stringent quality controls across their entire supply chain.

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Chemical management services for consumer products

A sound chemical management system is an example of applied sustainability. The intent is to eliminate toxic chemicals harmful to human health and the environment from the entire production cycle. One of the most effective strategies to manufacture a product safely and responsibly while reducing chemical risks is to shift the focus from the finished product (the production output) to the formulations and chemicals used in the manufacturing process (the production input). We can help customers develop holistic solutions to evaluate critical control points at different production stages.

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Chemical testing and analysis services for consumer products

Chemical testing and analysis play a fundamental role in the safety and quality of consumer products beyond meeting strict global and regional regulations. With growing concerns over harmful chemicals in consumer products, uncovering the formulations and chemical substances used in your raw materials, manufacturing processes and, ultimately, your end-products is essential.??

Our global testing laboratories offer you a variety of services to help safeguard your products against hazardous substances, including:

·????? Toxicological risk assessment (TRA)

·????? Labeling review

·????? Component evaluation

·????? After shipment surveillance

·????? Testing on raw materials, input chemicals and finished products

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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in textile and leather

PFAS are a group of chemicals often used in the textile industry for specific characteristics such as breathability, oil/water/dirt repellency, thermal stability and durability throughout the washing and dry-cleaning processes. However, these chemicals have been widely regulated globally in recent years. We can help you navigate PFAS regulations and mitigate compliance risks with our broad chemical management and advisory services portfolio. We can also assist you in developing a Restricted Substance List (RSL) to reduce the risk of non-compliant goods to the market. We also offer support and training to help you stay ahead of regulatory changes and upcoming restrictions for PFAS.

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Services for quality and sustainable luxury brands

By making your supply chain as transparent as possible, we can help you uncover and address safety and quality issues before they become costly problems. With deep expertise in luxury brands, we can help deliver safer, more sustainable and higher quality products your consumers can trust.

Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) certification and testing programs

The textile and leather industries are under increasing pressure to minimize their impact on the environment and improve the sustainability of supply chains. We can help textile and leather companies manage their supply chains to reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals discharged into water waste. This is done in compliance with the ZDHC program, which supports the implementation of best practices to protect the environment.?

We can help you with:

·????? Wastewater testing

·????? Wastewater sampling and pre-sampling coordination

·????? Posting of test results to public platforms

·????? Onsite assessments

·????? Compliance certification to ZDHC MRSL Level 1

Why UL Solutions

In our global, state-of-the-art laboratories, our experts can support brands, retailers and manufacturers in certifying products against various country, state, regional and industry standards.

Partnering with us simplifies the challenges facing apparel and footwear stakeholders, making it easier to access the global marketplace and build brand trust. We have an in-depth understanding of the footwear, textile and apparel industries. We are well-versed in the standards, chemical requirements, and risks associated with these items’ procurement, construction, and performance. This knowledge enables us to offer complete services to help you comply with the regulations to manufacture, sell and distribute your products.

Article prepared by 2024 AAFA Vietnam: International?Apparel & Footwear Compliance Conference Sponsor, UL Solutions (October 21, 2024).