Government-run textile certification label The Green Button
The Green Button helps consumers find sustainably produced textiles. The Green Button symbol will be visible either on the price tag, on the product itself or on the packaging, therefore making it easy to spot.
If consumers see this label on a T-shirt, a pair of jeans, a rucksack or a bath towel, they can be sure that these items have been produced in line with social and environmental standards.
Which companies are carrying Green Button items in their product range?
Green Button – Good for people. Good for nature.
Copyright© BMZ
There are already 66 companies (as at July 2021) that have items with the Green Button label in their range of products.
They include sports and outdoor brands, pioneers in sustainable production, family-run businesses and major retailers. The label has also been awarded to one non-German company, a Danish manufacturer of bed linen.
A full list of the companies can be found here (External link).
How are consumers responding to the label?
Towel with the Green Button label
Copyright© BMZ
A representative survey of 1,000 people carried out by the market research institute GfK in 2020 concluded: “The Green Button is set to become a success story.”
- 31 per cent of people in Germany know of the Green Button textile label, with that figure rising to 38 per cent among those with a special interest in fashion.
- 70 per cent of those surveyed who know of the label think it is trustworthy.
- 96 per cent are in favour of the German government monitoring compliance with social and environmental standards through a government-run label.
Sales
The Green Button
Copyright© BMZ/Agentur Tinkerbelle, Key Visual, Bildausschnitt
Just one year after it was introduced, the Green Button has already become established in the market – despite the COVID-19 crisis.
- In 2020, almost 90 million textiles bearing the Green Button label were sold.
- That is a market share of between 1.5 and three per cent. A respectable achievement in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. In 2010, by contrast, the German organic label achieved roughly two per cent in its first years. Today, everyone knows this label.
What does the Green Button have to do with the supply chain law?
“The companies participating in the Green Button certification scheme are showing that it can be done. At last, companies from all sectors are now required to ensure compliance with fundamental human rights standards such as the ban on forced or child labour throughout their supply chains.”
Gerd Müller, German Development Minister from 2013 to 2021
What does the Green Button stand for?
Good for people
In terms of ensuring decent work, the Green Button defines the social aspects that must be met.
These include:
- no forced or child labour
- safety and protection at work
- minimum wages
- clearly defined working hours and paid overtime
- freedom of association
- no discrimination or harassment
Good for nature
The Green Button establishes mandatory requirements for environmental protection.
These include:
- a ban on the use of dangerous chemicals
- biodegradability of the substances used
- protecting bodies of water from toxic wastewater
- protecting the atmosphere by monitoring emissions
- using natural fibres from organic farming
- using synthetic fibres from sustainable procurement, e.g. processing of recycled fibres
Government-run
The government lays down the criteria and conditions (46 in all) for the Green Button. This creates clarity and trust – for consumers and companies.
Independently certified
Independent units are tasked with monitoring compliance. For this, they need to have formal accreditation from the scheme owner. The suitability of these monitoring units and their auditors is assessed in a two-step procedure. In this way, it can be ensured that certification processes all meet the same standards.
Barbara Meier, textile ambassador for the Green Button and a former winner of the TV show Germany’s Next Topmodel
Copyright© Xander Heinl/photothek.net
We should never underestimate the power we have as consumers. At the end of the day, the industry will ensure that our needs and desires are accommodated.
What is special about the Green Button?
The Green Button is the first government-run label to lay down requirements to be met by the product (for example T-shirts or bedding) and by the company. A product needs to fulfil 26 social and environmental criteria.
These cover everything from upholding labour rights to testing for chemical residues.
Furthermore, the company as a whole is audited based on 20 other criteria: Are due diligence obligations regarding human rights and environmental protection being met along the textile supply chain? Does the company eliminate any shortcomings that are found? Are effective complaints mechanisms in place for its garment workers?
Product audits
All textile products marked with the Green Button have to meet 26 minimum social and ecological product criteria.
In the starting phase (until the end of 2021) the following production stages will be audited as part of the Green Button certification process:
- cutting and sewing
- bleaching and dyeing
Why these two stages? Some 75 million people worldwide work in these production stages and all of the 100 billion items of textiles produced each year go through them. The social and ecological challenges in these stages are especially pronounced.
Over the next few years, the certification mark is to be extended to cover other steps in the production process.
Company audits
The company as a whole is also audited. The company must prove, on the basis of 20 company criteria, that it lives up to its responsibility for human rights and for social and ecological standards in the textiles supply chain. Questions include, for instance:
- Does the company analyse the risks in its textile supply chain?
- Does it put introduce effective measures in order to avert such risks and eliminate any shortcomings?
- Do garment workers have access to grievance mechanisms in their own countries?
Institutional procurement
More and more hotels, hospitals, associations, and fire brigades are paying attention to sustainability when purchasing textile products. Here are some examples:
- The German State of Bavaria and its companies will in future restrict textiles procurement to products that have been produced sustainably and have been awarded the Green Button or a similar label.
- Germany's two major faith-based social service agencies, the Protestant Diakonie Deutschland and the Roman Catholic Deutscher Caritasverband, are opting for sustainable textiles, too. Together, they constitute Germany's largest buyer of textiles apart from the public sector. They have as many as 2.2 million beds in their 56,000 facilities, for which they need huge quantities of bedding.
- The discounter Norma is supplying its 15,000 staff with work clothes that have the Green Button label.
- The university hospital in Lübeck, northern Germany's largest university hospital, has switched to bed linen bearing the Green Button label.
- Ten Bundesliga football clubs in Germany are offering fan clothing certified with the Green Button.
What happens next?
When the Green Button was launched, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, as the scheme owner, announced that the label would gradually be further developed in cooperation with civil society, academia and the private sector. This process is currently taking place and is standard practice for other labels, too.
The next steps moving forward will be:
- Applying the criteria to more production stages in the supply chain.
- Taking the first steps towards paying a living wage: At present, employers are required to pay the statutory minimum wage or industry standard (when higher).
- Improving product transparency: There is already a QR code or a link on every certified product, enabling consumers to access transparent information about the audited company and the certified products. More information will be made available as the Green Button is developed further.
For more information on the Green Button, visit: www.gruener-knopf.de/en (External link)