§2.Voluntary sustainable apparel labeling program
This section establishes a voluntary sustainable apparel labeling program within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to be carried out in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Federal Trade Commission, and requires the Administrator to finalize implementing regulations not later than 2 years after enactment. As background, the program would allow sellers of apparel to apply to have specific articles of apparel included in the program and to attach an apparel sustainability label to the product or its packaging.
This section requires the label to provide consumers with a numerical summary of the best available information on the article’s total greenhouse gas emissions across its full life cycle, including emissions from fiber production, manufacturing, packaging, transportation, storage, retail presentation, consumer use, and end-of-life reuse, recycling, treatment, and disposal. It also requires the label to summarize the participant’s voluntary commitment for the product and to provide immediate electronic access at the point of sale, through a QR code or similar mechanism, to additional information, including the full emissions data, the commitment information, the program database, and other consumer-relevant information.
This section directs the Administrator to establish the label’s visual form so that it conveys the required information in a consumer-useful manner, does not present the product as simply acceptable or unacceptable, uses words, numbers, and imagery specified by the Administrator, indicates that the information has been verified under EPA requirements, and includes a logo identifying the label as part of the program. It also requires the label to make clear when the participant is the manufacturer rather than the retail seller, and, if requested by a participant, to separate the emissions information into (1) information for which the participant reports data, covering growing, input-material manufacturing, apparel manufacturing, packaging, and transportation, and (2) information for which EPA estimates typical consumer-use impacts, covering storage, retail presentation, consumer use, and end-of-life activities.
This section further requires the Administrator to establish a verification method using uniform standards for collecting and analyzing information for all participating articles of apparel and to limit the label to information and imagery specifically authorized by the Administrator.