PRESS RELEASES
July 11, 2024: Italian Detox Consortium becomes ZDHC signatory supplier
The Italian Detox Consortium is made up of a group of suppliers and some chemical formulators based in Italy, who have been committed to Greenpeace Detox since 2016 and acknowledged how important it is to eliminate dangerous substances from the textile production cycle. The consortium was born from the need of some entrepreneurs to understand how to convert the production system to eco-sustainability while remaining faithful to the transparency principle imposed by Greenpeace commitment.
The Consortium deals with all the activities of coordination, guidance and support for companies involved in Detox. Thanks to the collaboration with the best textile research laboratories, it carries out research for the development of knowledge tools of the production processes, to pursue full sustainability of the business activities from an economic, environmental and social point of view. In-depth research has been carried out on the contamination levels of dyes and auxiliaries used in the companies belonging to the Consortium. The consortium makes use of the expertise of the technical and scientific committee of which Greenpeace is a direct member. The companies that have signed the Detox commitment, through a common path represent various parts of the textile manufacturing chain. They include companies producing yarn, fabric and raw materials, dyeing and finishing yarns or fabrics, and producers of chemicals for the textile industry. Today the consortium has 37 member companies in various parts of Italy.
The Detox Commitment, signed by the companies in 2016, aligns perfectly with ZDHC’s vision and mission to develop and implement best practices in sustainable chemical management along the value chain to achieve the elimination of hazardous chemicals from production cycles. They therefore share the vision of the ZDHC for the widespread implementation of sustainable chemistry and the promotion of innovation and best practices in the textile and apparel industries. This is why they are pleased to contribute to the ZDHC Roadmap to Zero Program and support its development and growth within our business community.
“By joining ZDHC, we want to strengthen the Detox commitment. We already signed in 2016 and expanded the tools available to our companies. We hope to bring to ZDHC our experience related to the work done by our manufacturing companies in reducing chemicals from their production cycles throughout all stages of production.”
–Andrea Cavicchi, president of the Italian Detox Consortium
October 26th, 2016: Italian Detox Implementation Association (CID) is born

Members of Consorzio Italiano Implementazione Detox together with Chiara Campione and Giuseppe Ungherese representing Greenpeace Italy
The Detox enterprise of Prato Textile District – started one year ago thanks to Confindustria Toscana North – crosses today its local borders by the construction of Italian Detox Implementation Association (Consorzio Italiano Implementazione Detox – CID). The purpose: encouraging a sustainable and innovative textile production model on a national and international level. This venture will be presented today at 12 p.m. in a press conference in Lazzerini Library in Prato.
The main purposes of CID, to whom have already joined twenty-three companies from Prato and Berto’s dry cleaner from Padova – previously Detox commitment signers – are research promotion, technical and operational support to associated companies, so that everyone will be able to respect Detox standards, and the encouragement of instruments of knowledge and technological innovation in productive processes.
«When our venture for a competitive and sustainable textile industry moved its first steps here in Prato, we couldn’t imagine that 27 companies would be willing to change completely their production method» says Confindustria Toscana North President Andrea Cavicchi, «today we choose to bring this venture on a national level making an association, because we believe that a quality textile production with no risk for the environment has to be a national aim».
The Association will also take advantage of a Technical-Scientific Committee, where there’s also the costless and independent presence of Greenpeace, that launched the Detox challenge to the textile industry against the use of hazardous chemicals in the supply chain in 2011 and that today finds one more partner in the Association, to reach the ambitious goal of a “toxic-free” textile industry by 2020.
During the press conference, will also be presented the results of a study, made by the testing laboratory BuzziLab and by CID, concerning chemical analysis of 228 dyestuffs, which represent the 90% of colorants used by the textile supply chains all over the world. This study summarise the level of contaminations of dyestuffs by chemical analysis of four of the eleven groups of hazardous chemical substances present Greenpeace’s Detox MRSL: Aromatic amines derived from a zodyes, Ethoxylated Alkylphenols (APEOS), Phthalates, Chlorophenols. The results, deeply examined today, point out that in 70% of analyzed colorants the concentration of hazardous chemicals goes beyond Detox limits; whereas only a “insignificant” percentage of them (0,8%) wouldn’t be compliance with the ZDHC (Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals) MRSL limits
«The research we’re presenting today identifies contamination’s hidden sources in colorants substances and enables to choose products according to Detox standards. An excellent work that confirms the seriousness of Prato companies about the committment» is comments Giuseppe Ungherese, project manager of pollution campaign for Greenpeace Italy.
After the press conference in Textile Museum of Prato there will be the round table discussion “How the italian fashion chain is facing the sustainability challenge” featuring Andrea Crespi (Sistema Moda Italia), Renato Lambiente (Miroglio Fashion Srl) and Alberto Gallina (Benetton Group).
Case study Dyestuffs for Fashion Industry: actual chemical contamination levels | Oct 2016