What Is bluesign® Approved & Is It Legit?

As consumers, we appreciate certifications for their intention of taking some of the guesswork out of responsible brand research. That said, we should also realize they are not infallible. Even the most reputed sustainability and manufacturing certifications lhave seen their hints (and sometimes more) of greenwashing.

That’s why want to know if the highly-touted bluesign® seal of approval is actually more greenwashed than anything.

bluesign® is one of the world’s most respected voluntary textile and apparel standards to ensure material safety, production safety, and sustainability. While “bluesign® approved” and “bluesign® certified” are used interchangeably, the former is the officially correct term.

Based in Switzerland, the concerns of bluesign® are three-pronged. Consumer safety against harmful chemicals is their top mandate, followed by safety of workers along the supply chain, and then minimized impact on the environment. Currently, the bluesign® approved product label reserved exclusively for textiles, such as:

• Clothing, apparel, textiles, and prints
• Decorative materials, components, accessories, labels
• Home textiles and upholstery
• Fabrics, yarns, fibers
• Chemicals, dyes, coatings, linings, trims

They’ve yet to develop a labeling system for footwear, toys, medical supplies, hygiene products, and whole furniture pieces.

To be considered bluesign® approved clothing, garments must use 90% bluesign® approved fabric, and 30% approved accessories (if applicable). If a company achieves these marks across their whole product line, they’re considered bluesign® approved brands—as you might imagine, there aren’t many. The idea is continuous improvement of sustainable textile production over time, eventually using 100% bluesign® approved materials.

Within these, you’ll find two different labels:

• “Contains materials that meet the bluesign® criteria”: Some, but not necessarily all, of the materials in that given product meet the bluesign® standard.
• “Product meets the bluesign® criteria”: The entire product coincides with the bluesign® certified meaning.

The bluesign® seal represents more of a system and framework for sustainable garment and textile production that is free of toxic chemicals and substances. To bear the mark, a garment must go through an approved supply chain every step of the way:

• Sites of production
• Fiber manufacturers
• Textile and garment manufacturers
• Chemical suppliers
• Down/feather and leather processors
• Zipper, button, or other accessory manufacturers

A brand or manufacturer makes the choice to become bluesign® approved, meaning they agree to completely overhaul their manufacturing process until all chemicals, processes, and materials are deemed “safe” for consumers, workers, and the environment.

bluesign® criteria is based around five principles to ensure trust and transparency:

• Resource efficiency: Minimal impact to environment
• Consumer Safety: Garments and products are produced with minimal health threat to consumers and workers
• Water Emissions: Limited contaminated wastewater and the development of closed-loop systems are ensured
• Air Emissions: Exhaust air needs to be reduced and recycled to achieve pollution control
• Occupational Health and Safety: Any chemicals used are to be handled with care

Chemicals are classified among three different categories:

• Blue: safe to use
• Gray: special handling and management systems are necessary
• Black: forbidden harmful substances that must be replaced

If forbidden chemicals are detected in the supply chain, they work with the prospective bluesign® system partner to replace “black” chemicals with safe alternatives that meet bluesign® criteria.

It can be tricky for a brand to evaluate all the raw materials and textiles involved in a complicated manufacturing pipeline. This is where bluesign® technologies aid in the testing, auditing, and analyzing of different chemicals and fabrics.

The label uses specific science-based chemical assessments to look at the potential hazards of more than 20,000 chemical formulations to assign to their blue, gray, or black categories. When forbidden chemicals are detected, the label provides alternative chemical suppliers.

In fact, their various bluesign® CUBE tools are designed so both consumers and brands can have access to greener products. These include the bluesign® FINDER database of bluesign® certified suppliers and the more comprehensive database in the textile industry of over 11,000 safe and alternative chemicals.

For almost fifteen years, primary bluesign® system partners have included SGS Network, which is a global leader in inspection, testing, and certification. With almost 90,000 employees globally and more than 2500 laboratories and facilities worldwide, SGS is one of the largest inspection agencies. It is through SGS that all verification and testing occurs.

To learn more about bluesign® technologies’ sustainable chemistry, this video uncovers a lot for those fashion science nerds out there.

While exact steps vary slightly based on industry sector, hopeful bluesign® certified manufacturers must meet the same “main milestones”:

• Initial assessment based on the Clean Factory approach
• Signing the bluesign® SYSTEM PARTNER agreement
• Addressing any identified concerns or mandatory improvements to the manufacturing process within a specific time frame
• Continual improvement in compliance with a provided road map

Once granted bluesign® certification, the system ensures continued compliance through regular road map progress checks, regular chemical product testing, mandatory chemical inventory list (CIL) reporting, and complete reassessment every three years or less.

The bluesign® system aims to “ensure credibility and a high degree of effectiveness” and “foster the reliability of the trademark” through additional random spot testing of a final product and unannounced company visits.

Last year, the sustainability campaign group Changing Markets Foundation released a fairly damning report about the environmental impact of the fashion industry and the ineffectiveness of its various sustainability certifications. Included in the controversial report was a harsh look at bluesign®, along with nine other popular certification schemes (like WRAP, EU Ecolabel, Higg Index, and Cradle2Cradle).

The report, called “License to Greenwash”, purports that bluesign® (and others) do little more than “facilitate greenwashing”, citing the main issues as a lack of ambition, accountability, and oversight. The crux of the issue, according to Changing Markets, is that while the number of certifications grows, so too does the fashion industry’s worsening impact. This is indicative that bluesign® and others are “not fit for purpose”.

The report calls these certifications “schemes” to sweep the injustices of the fashion industry under the proverbial rug: “By acting as a sophisticated greenwashing apparatus, brands, customers and policymakers are lulled into a false sense of security by these initiatives and led to believe that action is being taken.

bluesign® responded to the allegations but upon later revistion of this article, we found the published response had been taken down from their website and could no longer be found.

While “License to Greenwash” is a buzzkill for one’s faith in certification scheme, we’re not writing off bluesign® just yet. Afterall, it takes a lot of time and effort to reshape the system we’re all somewhat responsible for.

For example, their tools and databases—like the aforementioned bluesign® FINDER, which anyone can create an account and use for free—are a significant step toward arming both consumers and manufacturers with the information needed to make more sustainable decisions. These brand and chemical databases also serve their own functions to ward against greenwashing of brands who might perhaps claim a certain chemical is safe.

While it’s important to pressure certifications, groups, and brands alike to do better, we also don’t want to poo-poo the good these labels do actually achieve. Sustainable living is all about progress over perfection, after all.

Afterall, one of the core mandates of bluesign® is a commitment to consistently achieving better. We’d like to think the organization is doing just that, though we can agree more transparency regarding specific brand assessments would be a welcome addition.

The bluesign® logo is becoming especially increasingly common among sustainable outdoor clothing brands, where otherwise lesser sustainable materials—like synthetic fabrics and waterproof coatings in the likes of tents and coats—are still somewhat necessary to achieve the desired garment function. With bluesign®, brands can at least make sure those fabrics have a minimal chemical impact, such as opting for fluorocarbon-free water repellent coatings.

In fact, you can filter for bluesign® products when shopping for outdoor equipment on REI. Here are some of our favorites brands using the system:

• Patagonia: The OG bluesign® system partner that helped develop the label. As one of the longest standing sustainable companies around, a vote from them for this certification builds our confidence in it, too.
• prAna: 35% of their line consists of bluesign® clothing, with the brand pledging to use 80% bluesign® materials by 2030.
• tentree: This certified B Corp also uses bluesign® materials for a few items, like their sustainable rain jackets and puffers.
• Toad&Co: Offer select bluesign® certified outdoor clothing. Garments that aren’t at least bear OEKO-TEX certification.