Textile Exchange
Building Integrity
a case study
prAna at a glance
prAna, an ancient Sanskrit word for breath,
life and vitality of the spirit, is born from
climbing and yoga and creates mindfullydesigned, purposeful and stylish apparel for
unconventional individuals to pursue their
passions – from the rock to the studio to
the trail to the street and with the launch of
its swimwear collection, to the water. From
the beginning, prAna has been committed to
looking for new ways to fold the intention of
sustainability into their materials and practices.
They have been committed to a variety of
preferred materials including organic cotton,
Fair Trade Certified (one of the few in the US)
and recycled polyester. prAna is sold at retailers
across the United States and Canada and
online at prAna.com.
prAna employee on a cotton field day
born from the experience
Key success factors
prAna: an Integrity Champion
• Broad corporate commitment to
responsible material sourcing
• Building long term relationships with
suppliers
• Continuous improvement instead of pass
or fail model
• Providing education to suppliers and
supporting them to make it happen
• Effective Traceability program in place since
September 2010
• Scope Certificates verified before placing
orders
• Transaction Certificates collected to garment
level in most cases
• A strong internal information management
system
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prAna’s fiber strategy
prAna has been committed to using more
sustainable materials since they first learned of
organic cotton in 2001; prAna refers to them
as Environmentally Conscious Materials. After
integrating organic cotton, they gradually began
looking into other materials that would lower
the impact of their products. Hemp and recycled
polyester, both pre- and post-consumer, are now
additional focus materials for prAna.
prAna employee on a cotton field day
prAna has also made one of the first
commitments to Fair Trade Certified apparel in
the industry. Fair Trade Certified is based around
the following principles: fair prices to farmers for
their goods, fair labor conditions and wages for
farm and factory workers, direct market access
eliminating unnecessary middlemen, democratic
and transparent organizations, community
development, and environmental sustainability.
Why choose certification?
Materials with recycled or organic content
can be up to 20% more expensive than their
conventional counterpart. However, prAna had
no system in place to ensure they were getting
what they were paying for, a system which
certification could offer.
prAna acknowledged that when
customers bought clothing labeled
with a claim such as organic or
recycled, there was the expectation
that this had been verified and
checked. Certification provided this
verification from an independent
third-party.
Finally, prAna realized that without
verifying the claims on products from
suppliers, the brand could potentially
be held responsible for unknowingly
violating “truth in advertising.”
Certification offered brand protection
and upheld company values; everyone
saw the risk of doing nothing. This came to light
when one of their customers asked for the
certification of their order and it took prAna a
couple of weeks of emailing suppliers, gathering
certificates and follow up. Not having this
information at hand was a risk to the brand’s
relationship with its customers.
Today prAna has set up a system to verify each
season’s materials with certifications including
OE 100 and OE Blended, now replaced by the
Organic Content Standard (OCS), as well as
GOTS, GRS, and Fair Trade. This gives prAna
the confidence to tell their consumers they are
getting what they are paying for.
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Setting up the certification system
The beginning
prAna first began to work with their suppliers
of organic and recycled products to confirm the
source of the raw material. This was complicated
because many suppliers were garment factories
buying recycled and organic yarns or fabrics,
with no tracking system to link back to the raw
material sources.
Continuing their research, prAna investigated
different standards that could help support the
goal to verify preferred raw material content
claims. This is where the certification journey
really started for prAna, but it would take more
time to get it fully embedded in the organization’s
operations. Support for certification within
prAna grew when the team realized it would
increase efficiency in managing the information
about their products.
Step 1. Establish company
policy
prAna assigned the Director of Sustainability and
the production department to be responsible
for implementing and managing the system of
certification. The company adopted a Traceability
Policy, centered on certification to specific
standards. The standards were chosen based
on the information prAna wanted about their
products: the main goal was to verify the content
of the products. Processing requirements were
secondary.
For organic cotton, the OE standards and GOTS
were selected. Both of these standards were
built on the same method of maintaining the
chain of custody for certified organically grown
cotton. The GRS was selected for products with
recycled material because it uses the same chain
of custody model. While GRS is the preferred
standard for recycled materials, only a low
percentage of prAna suppliers are currently
certified to the standard. Because of this, prAna
also accepts SCS, Repreve, and other standards.
prAna Traceability Policy:
prAna commits that all of the products containing organic and recycled contents will be
certified to the appropriate standards:
• Organic – certified to the NOP standard
using either the OE 100, OE Blended or
GOTS standard for content claims verification.
• Recycled – the Global Recycle Standard,
UNIFI Repreve tracer or Scientific Certifications Services recycled standard.
Products are tracked each season – Fall
or Spring and certification documents are
maintained.
Step 2. Communicate policy to
suppliers
prAna sent letters to their suppliers explaining
the Traceability Policy and the new requirements
of documentation to verify the certification of
products. The letter included an explanation
of the Traceability Policy, a description of their
focus materials, a list of requested documents to
verify certification or the source of the fabric,
an illustration of the flow of documents, and
examples of Transaction Certificates (TC’s) and
affidavits.
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Setting up the certification system
Step 3. Establish a baseline of
available information
In their follow up on the initial letter to suppliers,
prAna sought to understand what information
their suppliers were already able to provide.
Successfully gathering adequate
data required that prAna
continued to communicate with
suppliers, often more than once.
In most cases, prAna worked
with direct suppliers to gather
information from further back
in the supply chain, involving
back-and-forth communication
to make it happen.
In the first year, 2010, prAna
sent letters to 16 garment
makers: 14 could provide
some kind of verification of
the organic products and
6 garment makers could
provide organic certification TC’s. Of the styles
containing organic cotton, 3% had garment TC’s
to the garment level and 52% had fabric TC’s.
In 2011, prAna requested information on styles
containing organic cotton and styles containing
recycled materials. Of styles containing either
organic cotton or recycled materials, 8% had
garment TC’s, 14% had fabric TC’s, and 45% had
yarn TC’s. This meant that 33% did not have any
certification.
Step 4. Train the supply base
Establishing the baseline was critical for prAna
to determine how to focus next steps – the
priority was training the supply chain to ask for
and provide the correct documentation. prAna
prAna employee on a cotton field day
communicated which standards they preferred;
they also provided training to Tier 1 suppliers in
how to create their own traceability management.
Training has not been necessary for the certified
facilities, but prAna has worked with the suppliers
not yet certified to make sure they knew what
information to collect and pass on to prAna. In
many cases, prAna has been the first buyer asking
for the certification from their suppliers.
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Tracking certified products through certificates
Scope Certificates
Certified garment suppliers provide their Scope
Certificates to prAna, and they are verified and
stored by the production team. At this time, not
all garment suppliers are certified to prAna’s
preferred standards.
Transaction Certificates
The goal is to have TC’s collected up to the
garment level where possible for all organic and
recycled materials.
In cases where all parts of the supply chain
are not yet certified, collecting TC’s from
the garment level is not possible. In this case,
suppliers are encouraged to provide affidavits
or tracking documents, which provides a link
between prAna and the last available TC. This
information is not third-party verified, but it is a
good interim step towards complete certification.
These affidavits link fabric TC’s with specific
garments to provide some level of verification for
prAna. Accepting affidavits from these factories is
a short-term solution until all garment suppliers
are certified.
Managing certification
information
After beginning to collect certificates throughout
the supply chain, prAna developed a new, central
information management system to provide the
current certification status of suppliers as well as
increase efficiency and avoid one-off requests to
suppliers for certification information.
Organic and recycled products are identified in
preparation for the season ahead. The design
and development team orders organic materials
and those suppliers are informed that they will
have to provide the Scope Certificates and TC’s;
the production team sends a reminder email, and
then the certificates are tracked in an excel file
as they are received. They pull a list of certificates
at the beginning of the season, put it in a folder,
and then have a link to the certificate itself. The
production team checks every invoice for each
shipment and scans the TC at the same time;
they are typically both available by the time the
production team checks it, and so checking the
TC at the same time goes quickly.
The information management system also allows
prAna to collect and track certification data
from suppliers over time. Suppliers are evaluated
through a lens of continuous improvement, rather
than simply pass or fail, certified or not certified.
Tracking Fair Trade
For Fair Trade pieces, prAna collects the certification ID numbers from suppliers before ordering. prAna reports to Fair Trade USA how many
products are purchased, the cost, and from
whom. Fair Trade USA uses this information to
make sure the Fair Trade premium is paid to
workers. The chain of custody is maintained by
Fair Trade USA. TC’s are also sent because the
Fair Trade garment suppliers are also certified
organic.
Product Information
prAna lists organic content percentages on
products based on the information received from
garment TC’s where available, and from affidavits
in the other cases.
Products with recycled materials are labeled with
the content percentages, with no reference to
the standard.
Because the Fair Trade certified products have
certification up to the garment level, each
product is labeled as Fair Trade Certified, and
identified with the logo.
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Learning through the journey
Challenges along the way
Because chain of custody standards require
involvement from the entire supply chain, getting
everyone started can be a huge struggle in the
beginning. Located both domestically and in Asia,
prAna’s suppliers were allies in the process of
collecting and managing product certification
information. But because prAna is only one of
their many buyers, their orders are not always
enough to incentivize compliance to standards.
This understanding has fueled prAna’s active
participation in promoting certification among
other similar companies.
prAna’s Veeda fabric includes recycled polyester
Exchange and OIA’s Materials Traceability
Working Group. The RCS would establish the
standard, global definition of “recycled.” Those
suppliers already certified to the OE standards
(now the Organic Content Standard or OCS) can
quickly transition to the RCS as well.
Goals for the future
In the future, prAna plans to implement the
Content Claim Standard (CCS) with other
materials, in order to provide verification of all
preferred, or environmentally conscious fibers,
not only organic and recycled. They hope for the
tools and resources they have developed to be
used by other companies, to leverage growth
across the industry.
prAna’s Traceability Policy is an evermoving
finish line. As prAna continuously improves
communication with suppliers, and the
management of information they receive,
suppliers are better equipped to supply the
required documentation. prAna has targeted key
garments suppliers to whom they will introduce
the concept of becoming certified. prAna also
uses certification as a screening tool for new
supplier sourcing.
Further Information
• http://www.prana.com/
The lack of one global standard for recycled
raw materials has been another issue for prAna.
In the absence of one worldwide accepted
standard, prAna receives multiple types of raw
material verification from recycled polyester
suppliers, such as affidavits, governmental
statements, and other various methods of
verification. prAna plans to use the raw material
standard to be named the Recycled Content
Standard (RCS), currently in works with Textile
• http://www.prana.com/life/sustainability/
products/
• http://www.fairtradeusa.org/productspartners/apparel-linens
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Textile Exchange is a non-profit organization. We envision a global textile
industry that restores the environment and enhances lives. We inspire and equip
people to accelerate sustainable practices in the textile value chain. Our work is unique
in that we focus on the entire value chain, from production, through manufacturing, to retail.
The Industry Integrity platform at Textile Exchange aims to ensure that all of the work
that is done towards sustainability in the textile industry is genuine and leads to real and
meaningful change. We work through tool development, education, information sharing
and collaboration.
Building Integrity is a series of case studies intended to provide practical examples of
certification systems. By highlighting the work of companies with strong systems in place, we
hope to encourage wider use of standards to support product claims. For more information,
visit: http://textileexchange.org/content/integrity-library.
© 2013 Textile Exchange. textileexchange.org