Life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools began increasing in popularity a few years ago as sustainability-minded companies sought ways not only to better understand their products and mitigate their impacts, but also to communicate their efforts to consumers.
These tools are data management systems that help companies measure and track the impacts of products from the design stage to end-of-life. Rather than hiring consultants who came with their own LCA software, companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. began building their own proprietary tools, enabling them to better measure their unique inputs, outputs and impacts.
Now Levi’s is working to take LCA out of the sustainability silo and into the design room. The company’s clothing designers are using its Evaluate tool on a daily basis to make decisions about things like fabric choices, washes and dyes.
“As designers, we only know what we know and so often the decisions we make about what we design and the materials we use are made absent of understanding the environmental impacts of those choices,” says Paul Dillinger, senior director of global design for Levi’s Dockers brand.
Source: GreenBiz.com
By Amy Westervelt