The Boulder, Colo.-based Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) and the Switzerland-based European Outdoor Group have officially launched the Eco Index Pilot Program -- a product-level tool designed to help companies assess the environmental footprint of their products' lifecycle. The Eco Index has been in development for three years by the Eco Working Group, a volunteer industry committee including more than 100 outdoor companies. The tool comprises guidelines, performance indicators, footprint metrics and a comparative scoring system against a six-stage lifecycle approach.

Pilot Program participants already include more than 80 companies from organizations such as the Switzerland-based World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, the Hong Kong-based Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium, and the Arlington, Va.-based American Apparel and Footwear Association. Companies may test the current "Beta Phase 1" version of the index by using a generic bill of materials; applying the Eco Index to its products and facilities; and/or conducting a "desktop review" of the overall index content and structure and offering feedback. The stakeholder review period, which is scheduled to close at the end of this year, will also include a third-party review facilitated by Boston-based Ceres and conducted by a consortium of environmental advocacy groups, investors and academics. The formal version of the Eco Index is expected to be released in 2011.

"The apparel, footwear and gear industries are diverse in product type as well as in the varying levels of knowledge and resources available to companies, said Beth Jensen, corporate responsibility manager, OIA. "The Eco Index was designed with this dynamic in mind, using a modular structure to help ensure usability throughout the industry. We are looking to the pilot program for critical feedback on the success of this approach from those who will actually be implementing the Eco Index." 
 

Textile World