Bluesign inspires and equips brands, manufacturers and chemical suppliers with comprehensive sustainability solutions, so that the industry continuously fosters safer work environments, increasing levels of environmental responsibility, enhanced business value and deeper consumer trust. Bluesign Technologies CEO Jill Dumain answers few questions on partnerships in the supply chain/ collaboration/transparency.

Bluesign has more than 600 system partners. What are some of the benefits that come from having a network that vast?

With Bluesign, you start to understand in this vast industry the players that are taking real steps towards responsible textile manufacturing. It makes it so much easier for companies who are serious about environmental and chemical management to have this sourcing community to go to. Bluesign offers its full range of services to its system partner chemical suppliers, manufacturers and brands, helping to eliminate hazardous chemicals from the very beginning and to adopt responsible production and responsible chemistry. Brands therefore have the opportunity to create clean products working with our system partners, being able to trace the materials all the way to the chemical suppliers.

What is the role of partnerships in advancing sustainability and transparency in textile supply chains?

I think they’re absolutely critical, and speaking from experience when I was for 14 years in a product development role, if I had not had my partners in the supply chain, I couldn’t have done 75 per cent of my work. We reached a point where they trusted me, I trusted them, they needed me, and I needed them. So, it really grew into some of the equal partnerships built on trust and longterm business. And given this, I could do so much more innovation in my job than I could have had if I were changing suppliers on a regular basis or trying to squeeze every last cent out of them. If you have the ability to build these longterm relationships, there is a positive side regarding financials because it’s expensive to change suppliers, as you have mistakes and they don’t know how to service you as a client, and there’s a lot of cost involved in moving around. So, I think that having trusted partnerships really feels like magic can happen in the industry when you’ve got that, because then it’s fun; it is creative. Sustainability or responsibility can feel like a weight, a burden, instead of empowerment. We are in this very fun industry with all these creative minds but now you can do good for the world at the same time and bring those two together. Once you have it you can’t go back, you’re sort of stuck in that mode for the rest of your career no matter what, but it’s a wonderful place to be.

Textile supply chains have had challenges with regards to transparency and sustainability. Do you think we can get over these challenges?

I don’t think the industry has a choice anymore but to become more transparent. The society is not living in secret any longer. The younger generations, especially, are living a transparent life on social media and when the society is used to it then it becomes an expectation.


I also think it should not be transparency for the sake of transparency. I experienced that in my career where it’s not always beneficial to come out when you’re in the middle of a big problem because it can be interpreted in so many different ways that sometimes you need a little time behind the scenes to figure out the direction you’re going, and then become transparent about it in telling what you’re doing, telling where you’ve been and telling where you’re going. I see transparency landing where more companies are bold and brave enough to talk about where the problems are and their plan to fix them, which I think is really good for the industry. And I really don’t think it’s much of a choice anymore. Transparency looks different for every company such as a lot of brands are talking now about regenerative agriculture. This is really important to show the consumers that you can’t just flip a switch and that these supply chains are long and complicated and if you want to pull something through there are a lot of pieces that have to be considered and have to be included. So, I think it’s a huge benefit for the consumers to understand more what the companies have to do in order to bring these sustainability initiatives further.

What were some of impacts you witnessed regarding COVID-19? Do you think this situation will lead to better sustainability and transparency?

COVID-19 is an interruption, but it’s not forever. I am an optimist by nature and have been very encouraged this year by seeing the commitments at the governmental level, all the way up to the larger luxury brands and down to the smaller startups where they show their supply chains and sustainability initiatives. I am very encouraged by some of the newer brands working on initiatives and pushing forward on the sustainability work. The industry has the opportunity now to think about disrupted supply chains, and how to secure it better going forward and how to form a tighter bond with your suppliers all the way down in the supply chain. I don’t think this disruption will take the momentum away and with a lot of press in the mainstream media, there is also a bigger focus now on the people who make your clothes, whom we don’t think about often. Once the industry goes deeper into the supply chain and see the faces and the people, it is no longer a factory or a country; it is humans and we are all part of the same chain. That is what was really impressive to me, about bluesign on bringing back the human component, when I was sitting in the brand chair at Patagonia, empowering me to go all the way back to all of my chemical suppliers and textile mills, and ensure that people are being taken care of there and in the surrounding communities.

What are the biggest obstacles for companies to prioritise sustainability and transparency within the supply chains? What does bluesign do regarding this?

A lot can be done no matter where you are in the supply chain. There is so much information out there today and my biggest advice to companies just beginning to go on this track is to find which environmental or sustainability initiatives meet your company’s values. For instance, if you’re an outdoor industry brand making ocean products, then clean water pollution would be what your customers are going to care about as well as your executives.

On the other hand, if you’re a fashion company that’s selling to the younger consumer segment, the youth is looking at this more than ever before. So don’t be afraid to talk about your initiatives, however big or small, because a collective voice is needed to help consumers decide on where to go. Some of the actions I would recommend are starting small. For instance, with bluesign you can have access to all of our system partners, all of our clients that are selling bluesign® APPROVED materials. This information is free on our website, bluesign.com, anyone can look up all these suppliers and ask them to find out about their bluesign® APPROVED fabrics. This certification ensures you that safe chemistry coming from bluesign® SYSTEM PARTNER chemical suppliers was used by the textile mill and the best resources are being used to make that product; it doesn’t cost you anything. If you have a little bit more financial resources, and you want to take the next step, maybe doing a bluesign brand assessment would be a good option to see where you want to land and what that looks like, and then move up to the full service option of a system partnership where you have access to the whole organisation. Bluesign is set up so that there can be a tiered approach into the organisation, acknowledging that the startups and the younger companies don’t have as many resources. I must say that I have spoken to very very large brands, but they don’t have the support inside to spend the money. They can easily start with this reference list at bluesign, see who they are already buying from. They might already have some of their suppliers on there as system partners, and if not, then they have a few hundred bluesign® SYSTEM PARTNER manufacturers to choose from who are making all kinds of textiles.