Burberry hits out regarding toxic chemical claims

British heritage label Burberry has rejected the allegations from Greenpeace that items from its childrenswear collection comes infested with “hazardous little monsters” better known as “hazardous chemicals”. According to the environmental group, its latest investigation found a broad range of

 hazardous chemicals in children’s clothing and footwear across a number of major clothing brands, including fast fashion, sportswear, and luxury brands such as Burberry.

The study tested 82 children’s garments, purchased in May and June 2013, from brands such as Gap, American Apparel, H&M, Disney and Burberry to ascertain if harmful chemicals such as nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) and per/poly-fluorinated chemicals (PFCs) were present.

Included

in the testing was the purple metallic shirt modelled by Romeo Beckham in Burberry's spring/summer 2013 campaign. Greenpeace found that the shirt, which was made in Tunisia and purchased in the UK from the label’s online store, was found to contain a relatively high level , 780 mg/kg, of NPEs, manmade chemicals that are widely used surfactants by textiles manufacturers. Once released to the environment, NPEs degrade to nonylphenols (NP), which are known to be toxic and act as hormone disrupters.

In a statement, a Burberry spokesperson said: "All Burberry products are safe and fully adhere to international environmental and safety standards. We have an active programme dedicated to reducing the environmental impact of our supply chain, working in collaboration with our suppliers and NGOs.

“Greenpeace is aware of our work, which includes the commitment to eliminate from our supply chain the release of chemicals that have an environmental impact."

Greenpeace finds toxic chemicals in Burberry childrenswear

In response to the report, the environmental group took to Twitter to encourage its followers to get Burberry’s attention by tweeting them towards the dangers of using harmful chemicals. Greenpeace suggested tweeting statements such as “.@Burberry Toxic chemicals don't go away like fashion fads - #Detox now and stop using these harmful #LittleMonsters!” and “.@Burberry Toxic chemicals will never be in vogue! #Detox now and help clean up #Fashion!”

“Until the textile industry detox and switch to safer chemicals, we’ll all be exposed to these hazardous substances,” Graham Thompson, a spokesman for the Greenpeace Detox campaign, told the Daily Mail. “Whether you are a child from a poor background living downstream from the factories in Asia or Africa, or the wearer of a £175 shirt, all are impacted.”

Thompson added: “The Greenpeace Detox campaign has been working with major fashion labels to solve this problem. We want to help Burberry become a real market leader by joining the forward-thinking brands already committed to being part of the solution.”

Image: Burberry