The Unseen Process
The hardest work never shows.
Your label tells you what a product is made of. It doesn't tell you how it was made. That part happens out of sight, in the chemistry, the processes, and the conditions behind the product. Four questions, four things you were never shown.
What touches you
How many times did you touch the zipper today?
Some metal hardware is plated with compounds containing nickel, cadmium or lead. Friction and heat can carry it to your skin.
That shiny zipper has a metal coating. Depending on what the factory uses, it can contain nickel, lead or cadmium, metals you don’t want rubbing against your skin all day.
bluesign restricts metals like these in zippers, snaps and other parts, not just the fabric, and checks how the factory makes them.
Four more things you touch all day
What is my baby actually sucking on?
Babies put everything in their mouths, including the strap. The dyes and softeners on it were chosen at a mill long before it reached you.
bluesign checks those chemicals before they’re used and restricts the ones that shouldn’t be there.
What actually makes my jacket repel water?
A chemical coating. Many have used PFAS, “forever chemicals” that don’t break down in nature.
bluesign restricts PFAS in these coatings and checks how the factory applies them.
Why do my new socks bleed color in the wash?
If the mill doesn’t fix and rinse the dye properly, it washes out onto your other clothes and into the water.
bluesign checks the dyes a mill uses and the steps that keep color in the fabric.
What is my t-shirt actually made from?
Often polyester, which is made with a metal catalyst, usually antimony. Traces can stay in the fabric, recycled or not.
bluesign checks the chemicals used to make the fiber, not just the finished fabric.
The people who make it
How loud was it where my shirt was made?
Hearing protection required under bluesign criteria
Hold to raise the level.
Weaving machines are loud. Years next to them without protection means permanent hearing loss.
bluesign requires hearing protection where machines are this loud, and checks the noise, dust and chemicals workers deal with every day.
More questions from the same floor
Who breathed the dust that made these look worn?
That worn look is often made by blasting denim with sand. Workers breathe in the dust, which can cause serious lung disease.
bluesign checks the air workers breathe and how they’re protected on the floor.
When my skirt was dyed, who stood next to a hot dye bath all day?
Dye baths run hot. Standing next to one all day means heat, fumes and chemical splashes.
bluesign checks how workers are protected from heat and chemicals, from ventilation to protective gear.
Who decided what chemistry went into my dress?
Someone at the mill picked the chemicals. Often, cost decides.
bluesign checks those chemicals before they’re used, so cost isn’t the only thing that counts.
Water and air
What happens to the water that made my jeans?
Dyeing denim uses a lot of water, and it comes out full of dye and chemicals.
At a mill in the bluesign System, that water has to be cleaned before it’s released, on site or at a treatment plant the mill works with, and tested against set limits. The worst chemicals, like PFAS, have to be kept out of it and collected separately.
bluesign checks what goes into the water and air, and limits what the mill can release.
More questions about water
My clothes were dyed somewhere. What went into the water there?
Not all the dye stays in the fabric. The rest goes out with the water.
bluesign checks what’s in that water before it leaves the mill.
Why does this fabric shed tiny fibers every wash?
Some fabrics shed tiny fibers every wash. How much depends on the fiber and how it was finished.
bluesign checks the materials and finishing steps that affect how a fabric behaves later.
Who’s behind it
Who is part of this?
We check how it was made. Look for the bluepass mark.
What bluepass means
bluepass is the mark to look for. It means the product was made with materials produced through processes that meet bluesign Criteria. If you don’t see it, ask the brand how it was made. The more people ask, the more it matters.
Have a product?
See what the mark covers and how to look it up.
Making things?
Over 900 System Partner companies work with bluesign on how their products are made.