Victoria’s Secret Commits To Toxic-Free Manufacturing Following Greenpeace Report

Limited Brands, which owns Victoria’s Secret, has sprang into action in response to the Toxic Threads report released by Greenpeace in November.

The environmental advocacy group released its findings after testing a number of items from 20 popular clothing brands and discovered that they all contained traces of hazardous chemicals to varying degrees, it said.

Brands such as H&M and Diesel had 33 percent of clothes test positive for hazardous chemicals, while other brands, like Calvin Klein tested 88 percent positive, Levi’s tested 82 percent, and Zara tested 70 percent.

Since then, 14 of the offending brands have committed themselves to detoxing their manufacturing procedures, including Zara, Levi’s and now Victoria’s Secret, according to Fashionista.

Victoria’s Secret was among the “detox villains” identified by Greenpeace for not having a definitive policy on chemical management. The lingerie brand had 50 percent of its clothes testing positive for harmful chemicals, the report said.

Chemicals found included phthalates, which are known to disrupt hormones and cause cancer when released into the environment; however, Greenpeace noted that the chemicals are not necessary harmful when on clothing.

“It’s not clear (or provable) that these chemicals harm the U.S. consumer who wears the clothing, but it is clear the release of chemicals into the environment at the point of manufacture has a harmful effect on nearby communities,” a representative for Greenpeace told Fashionista.

Limited Brands has announced that it plans to make available “discharge data from 80 percent of its entire global supply chain by the end of 2013.”

“Limited Brands considers clean water as a critical global issue, and is proud to join Greenpeace in its campaign to eliminate hazardous chemical use,” Sam Fried, executive vice president for Law, and Policy & Governance at Limited Brands, told the fashion website.