International standards organisation ISO is working on a new standard aimed at making the printing of garments and other textiles more environmentally accountable.
ISO has set out how it hopes that ISO 22067-3 will give printers a tool for communicating the environmental aspects of processes used to print garments, textiles and footwear, including their environmental impact.
According to ISO’s abstract, the new standard will be relevant for the entire production supply chain including “printed embellishments” such as garment decoration.
It will apply to all printing methods, analogue or digital, but will not cover fabric-dyeing processes.
ISO 22067-3 is covered in part three, “Textile Printing”, of ISO’s document on “graphic technology”, subtitled, “Requirements for communication of environmental aspects of printed products”.
A working group is currently working on a draft for the new standard, with details expected to be published next year.
Reporting on the proposed new standard, global print industry body Fespa noted: “ISO 22067-3 is being developed because textile production processes use such huge quantities of resource.
“Textile and footwear printing is a manufacturing process and as such should be made more environmentally accountable.
“The standard summarises what needs to be considered if you want to communicate the environmental aspects of products and processes effectively.
“All participants in textile and footwear print production supply chains should be interested in this work because their customers will be.”
ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, is the world’s largest developer and publisher of international standards.
