The Amercian Apparel & Footwear Association’s (AAFA) Environmental Task Force has recently released the 12th Edition of Restricted Substances List (RSL). The RSL is intended to provide apparel and footwear companies with information related to regulations and laws that restrict or ban certain chemicals and substances in finished home textile, apparel, and footwear products. The RSL does not include regulations that restrict the use of substances in production processes or in the factory; instead, the focus is on whether or not the substance can be found in finished home textile, apparel, and footwear products at a certain level. The release has been updated to reflect changes spurred by REACH, the new EU chemicals legislation, as well as other state and international regulations.
The effort of AAFA is to support the industry to be compliant. “AAFA remains committed to providing the U.S. apparel and footwear industry with a variety of tools to help make sound sourcing decisions,” said AAFA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke. “Now in its twelfth publication, the AAFA Restricted Substances List assists the industry in creating an even safer and more sustainable supply chain.”
