Clothing firms H&M and Levi’s are confident that their suppliers will support their recent ban on the sandblasting finishing technique, just-style has learnt.
The two companies also said that hand scraping/sanding is an alternative method to get the same effect when producing worn jeans. H&M considers machine scraping as another option.
A spokesperson for the Swedish retailer told just-style: “We have gradually decreased sandblasted products with the goal of quitting altogether. We have not received any negative feedback from the suppliers that we work with regarding our decision to quit purchasing and retailing sandblasted products.”
Both H&M and Levi’s made a joint announcement on 8 September calling for a global ban on sandblasting amid health and safety concerns. Without proper safeguards, the practice can cause workers potentially serious harm resulting from exposure to crystalline silica.
A spokesperson for Levi’s told just-style today (20 September): “Sandblasting occurs in a very limited number of countries around the world. We have positive relationships with all of our suppliers who will follow our guidance to implement this ban. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure they follow our requirements and we will work with our suppliers to transition to alternative methods, such as hand sanding.
“We are confident our suppliers will support this move and will be able to transition to other methods without major impact to their existing business.”
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By GlobalDataThe practice of sandblasting, banned in the EU for 40 years, has been most commonly used in Turkey, China and Bangladesh in recent times, the H&M spokesperson added.
