AMSTERDAM – The ZDHC Foundation has today launched its Detoxing the Fashion Industry for Dummies manual, with the ambition of educating the broader industry and consumers on the topic of chemicals in apparel production and catalysing greater efforts to stray from environmentally damaging solutions in favour of new, best practice alternatives.

Written by the Foundation’s executive director, Frank Michel, the manual provides people with any level of understanding the opportunity to read up on the role chemistry plays in garment manufacture and learn how proven innovations enable a transition to a more sustainable future.

“We want to raise broad awareness to accelerate change and drive impact in production regions for cleaner water and less air pollution in textile and leather manufacturing,” Michel says.

With the launch of this guide, the ZDHC – which counts brands, manufacturers and chemical suppliers amongst its 160 contributors – is looking to recruit the entire industry and fashion lovers alike in a movement to clean up textile chemistry.

“This book opens the door to a safe future for humanity and for our planet,” says Michel. “Written for fashion lovers as well as industry professionals, it is intended to expose the harmful impact of clothing production on people and the environment, and share best practices to turn everyone into true believers and activists of this fashion revolution.”

For those unfamiliar with the topic at hand, the manual ‘for dummies’ offers foundational information about why chemicals are used in apparel production, whether they’re dangerous, whether they’re necessary and what alternatives are on the horizon.

Giving context, it continues by detailing the environmental impact chemical usage has on both the natural world and human health, before serving up optimism of an industry transition to safer chemistry and new innovative practices.

The manual is freely available to all and can be accessed here: https://www.roadmaptozero.com/dummy-book