The China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) accelerates the textile supply chain towards sustainability with the announcement of a collaboration agreement with The ZDHC Foundation.

On May 13th, during the TexSMC workshop of Innovative Coordination in the textile supply chain in Zhejiang Province, China, CNTAC launched its “Chemicals Stewardship Initiative 2020” and announced a collaboration agreement with the ZDHC Foundation to improve chemical management across the textile value-chain.

CNTAC is an industry federation which represents all textile related industries in China. Its “Chemicals Stewardship Initiative 2020” is a cross-industry policy framework for the textile industry aimed at minimising the adverse effects of chemicals on human health and the environment, under the themes as innovation and technology, harmonising standardisation, stakeholder engagement, capacity-building, and information exchange.

Partnering with the ZDHC Foundation provides CNTAC with chemical management expertise and guidance to achieve its Chemicals Stewardship Initiative 2020 goals. For the the ZDHC Foundation, this collaboration is a great opportunity to expand its scope in China.
The main areas of the collaboration agreement include stakeholder outreach, sharing of best practices, driving innovation and training and regional conferences.  

CNTAC’s Vice President Mr. SUN Ruizhe said, ”ZDHC’s in-depth focus on developing tools and resources for managing chemical impacts compliments CNTAC’s broader mission to develop sustainable manufacturing measures for the textile industry.”
“Collaboration is key to achieving ZDHC’s ambitious goal,” said the ZDHC Foundation’s Executive Director, Frank Michel. “We’re excited to be collaborating with CNTAC as this provides a tremendous opportunity for ZDHC to achieve real impact across China. Industry collaboration is essential if we’re to meaningfully target and eliminate hazardous chemicals from the global textile and footwear supply-chain.”

The ZDHC Foundation oversees the management of the ZDHC Programme, a collaboration of 22 leading textile and footwear brands, five value-chain affiliates and four associates working to eliminate hazardous chemicals from the supply chain. Earlier this week, ZDHC released its 2015 Annual Report.

The Textile Sustainable Manufacturing Coalition (TexSMC), an alliance initiated and supported by CNTAC for the leading textile enterprise and the key stakeholders of the Chinese textile industry, to accelerate the textile supply chain towards sustainability, working closely with certain governmental authorities, industrial organization and NGOs to enhance coherence and solidarity among green manufacturing and sustainable industry operating in China.