Material Traceability
Why
The supply chain is what textile and other manufacturers use to describe everything from the crops grown to make yarn and the sewing of the fabric into garments, to shipping finished clothes to warehouses, stores and our customers’ front porches. Supply chains are long and complex, involving many entities between the origin of a fiber and the finished product. Patagonia relies on the work of thousands of factories, mills, spinners, processors, recyclers and farms to make our products.
The majority of our products are made with the most environmentally sustainable materials available, including organic cotton, Traceable Down, wool that meets the Responsible Wool Standard, natural rubber and various recycled materials. We strive to establish traceability of our materials by mapping out all of the entities in these supply chains, and also implementing strong chain-of-custody guidelines for our suppliers, to reduce the possibility that less sustainable alternatives are swapped or mixed with more sustainable materials.
Where We Are
Over the years, we have worked with key suppliers to obtain strong and credible third-party certifications that provide the best proof that the sustainable fiber we advertise is actually found in our products. These certifications not only give us assurance that the material is the one we chose but also confirm that there was no mixing or swapping of substances when transforming the materials into finished products. When reputable third-party certifications are not available, we employ subject-matter expert auditors to conduct on-site visits of our suppliers.
What’s Next
We continue to explore new developments in the fields of material traceability and supply chain transparency, including adopting best practices used in textile and other commodity supply chains. We are researching the latest generation of traceability service providers with the goal of ensuring the chain of custody of our sustainable materials and improving the overall transparency of these sectors.
