Nike App Ranks Materials’ Sustainability

Nike Making app

by | Jul 5, 2013

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Nike Making appNike has launched an app to help designers and product creators see the environmental impact of the materials they choose and make more sustainable apparel.

Making is a designer-specific app that ranks materials based on four environmental impact areas: water, chemistry, energy and waste. The app, which is powered by data from the Nike Materials Sustainability Index, scores materials out of a possible 50 points. Through direct comparisons, designers can quickly see how material choices stack up.

Nike created the sustainability tool with feedback from students at London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion. Making is available as a free download from the Apple iTunes store.

Nike says, citing industry data, by the year 2015 the global apparel industry is expected to produce more than 400 billion square meters of fabric annually. The company also says dye houses use up to 200 tons of water for each ton of fabric they process.

The new app is part of Nike’s ongoing push toward sustainable materials in the apparel industry.

In May, Nike — along with Eddie Bauer, Disney, Patagonia, Quiksilver and Todd Oldham — joined the Otis Sustainability Alliance, a partnership between the fashion industry and higher education that aims to advance environmental, social and economic sustainability.

The month prior, Nike, NASA, the US Agency for International Development and the US Department of State launched an initiative that challenges manufacturers to create new, sustainable materials. The sustainable materials challenge is part of the Launch initiative, started in 2010 by Nike, NASA, USAID, and the Department of State to support innovative approaches to sustainability issues.

Nike also has partnered this year with Bluesign Technologies in an effort to use more sustainable materials and chemistries in its products. The partnership makes available Bluesign’s assessments tools and data to Nike’s materials suppliers.

 

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