Durability Solutions for Textiles, Apparel and Footwear
Learn how our durability solutions for raw materials and finished products can help fashion and luxury brands and their global supply chain.
Please wait…
The textile, apparel and footwear marketplace: How fashion is evolving
The global economic landscape is evolving, and so are consumer preferences and technologies.
Key market drivers for stakeholders of the textile, apparel and footwear industries include:
- Global market access – Staying on top of constantly changing regulations and requirements is not easy when you’re trying to shorten your products’ time to market. Thinking of safety and quality early in the supply chain to anticipate risks is important.
- Sustainability – The textile, apparel and footwear industry takes a lot of blame for creating a great deal of pollution worldwide. In the last year, sustainability has become a key pillar of business strategies in the fashion and luxury industries. Improving sustainability is linked not only to environmental stewardship but also to social responsibility in the global value chain.
- Supply chain disruption – Recently, brands and retailers began to understand the importance of new emerging markets for sourcing, including Bangladesh, India, Turkey and many African countries. Supply chain management can prove difficult when you’re expanding to new geographies.
- Omnichannel – Consumers expect you to reach them at every moment and everywhere they are, both online and offline. This is transforming how companies do business, and poor supply chain visibility doesn’t help.
These market drivers can also serve as great opportunities if you, as a retailer, brand or manufacturer, can establish a comprehensive strategy and holistic approach to bundling compliance, quality and sustainability throughout your supply chain. UL Solutions can help.
Simplify global market access with UL Solutions testing
Textile, apparel and footwear testing
UL Solutions’ global network of accredited laboratories offers a full range of physical, color fastness, chemical, fiber composition and flammability testing to evaluate your articles’ compliance with international legislation and brand requirements.
Children’s apparel and footwear testing
Recognized for our extensive expertise in testing of children’s products, UL Solutions experts worldwide can also help you bring products intended for children — the most vulnerable end users — to world markets.
Start your authentic journey toward sustainability with UL Solutions
Whether it’s selecting the right product sustainability certifications, detoxing your supply chain, reducing your carbon footprint or implementing a responsible sourcing program, UL Solutions can help.
Reduce product defects while managing your global supply chain with UL Solutions
Third-party inspections are a key part of a global quality assurance (QA) program to help verify that your products meet specifications prior to release and shipment.
Thanks to UL Solutions’ global footprint, product expertise and data management dashboard, you can benefit from customized inspection programs to minimize the risk of shipping substandard products and optimize your global supply chain.
Benefits of building an inspection program with UL Solutions include:
- Improved time to market
- Demonstrable quality and accuracy of your softline products
- Preventing defective products from reaching your customers
- Avoiding loss of products and revenues, delayed shipments or wasted materials, and product recalls in your destination markets
To gain greater visibility and control over your testing, inspections and audits, we offer our PATH™ SmartSuite software. This suite of tools and resources will help you navigate supply chain complexities, providing access to project order management, business intelligence, corrective actions, information management and product regulations.
Unparalleled resources for private-label brands and the textile, apparel and footwear industries
If you want to move forward in your quality strategy or seek a way to differentiate your articles in a crowded marketplace so you can sell products that provide a unique experience to end consumers, UL Solutions can help.
At UL Solutions, we help private labels position their products competitively in the marketplace and reduce risk.
UL Solutions support for luxury brands
With deep expertise in luxury brands, UL Solutions can help you deliver safer, more sustainable and higher-quality products your consumers can trust, which helps protect your valuable reputation.
UL Solutions and ADEC Innovations join forces for chemical management in fashion
UL Solutions has partnered with ADEC Innovations, the technology provider behind the supply chain software as a service (SaaS) platform CleanChain, to enhance chemical management across global supply chains in alignment with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) initiative for the apparel, footwear and accessories industry. With this partnership, the CleanChain platform seamlessly integrates into UL Solutions services, offering a cohesive and data-driven solution for chemical management across the entire supply chain, providing greater visibility into chemical inventories, managing chemicals hazardous to human health and the environment, and driving continuous improvement in sustainability performance.
The bundled solution includes official ZDHC training for the value chain, wastewater testing and reporting, Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL) certification and monthly ZDHC Performance InCheck report generation.
In the News - Regulatory Updates for Retail and Consumer Products
Consumer product regulations are evolving rapidly. Subscribe now and start receiving this monthly newsletter to stay on top of regulatory changes for your business and navigate compliance challenges.
