Market Opportunities for “More Sustainable Chemistry” Through the REACH Regulation - Results from a Case Study of the Global Supply Chains in the Textile and Sporting Goods Industry

Abstract

The report outlines the results of the research project ‘Market opportunities for “more sustainable chemistry” through the REACH Regulation (Sustainable Sporting Goods – SuSport)’. The aim of the project completed in 2018 is to support ‘more sustainable chemistry’ in the textile supply chain and to broaden the view from the ‘reactive’ compliance position to a ‘proactive’ – beyond compliance perspective. Strategically, this approach is based on the following consideration: those who still want to be ‘compliant’ tomorrow have to act ‘beyond compliance’ today. Such a strategy not only guarantees legal compliance, but also opens up new market opportunities. Relevant actors participating in the transdisciplinary research project are mainly manufacturers of textile chemicals (organised in Germany in the TEGEWA association, partner in the SuSport project) as well as companies that manufacture and sell textile products, such as clothing and sporting goods (for sporting goods in Germany organised in the BSI, also project partner). However, since the project’s subject addresses a transformation process of the global textile supply chains, all other actors involved in the production processes must also be taken into account.