Nike has launched an app to make sustainability data more readily available to apparel makers. Called Making, the app is targeted at designers to provide them with information on the environmental implications of the materials they work with.
Using the app, designers can assess the environmental footprint information of meterials across a range of categories such as water, chemistry, energy and waste. Making draws from Nike’s Materials Sustainability Index (MSI), which draws on 7 years worth of research and analysis. It scores materials out of 50 points, ranking each material in each category. It also provides information on recycling and organic content.
To develop the initial concept, Nike gathered feedback from students at London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion. The London fashion school is known for its sustainable design leadership and some of its students have already used the app to create collections of apparel.
The app is designed to make headway into the clothing industry's environmental impact. Nike says that by 2015, the industry is expected to create 400 billion sq m of fabric per year, the equivalent of covering the whole state of California with a massive piece of fabric. Further, the dying process is very water-intensive, requiring 200 tons of water for each ton of fabric processed. Finally, data from Pesticide Action Network shows non-organic cotton uses up to 25 percent of all insecticides in the world and 10 percent of all pesticides.
Source: Nike
