Do we really know the environmental impact behind a garment? Answering this question remains one of the textile industry’s major challenges. Garment production involves multiple stages, from yarn and fabric to final finishing, carried out by different players across the supply chain. Accesing reliable data from each process, connecting it and establishing a common language are essential to understanding a product’s true impact.
EIM (Environmental Impact Measuring), the global standard developed by Jeanologia to measure the environmental impact of textile production processes, is now taking the biggest step in its evolution. After more than 15 years measuring the impact of garment finishing, it is expanding its scope to measure the different stages of production under a common methodology, connecting traceable and comparable information from yarn to finished garment.
This evolution marks the transition to a new Environmental Intelligence approach, providing a complete view of how a garment was made and the impact generated during its production, measuring water, energy and chemicals use.
From yarn to garment
To make this possible, the new EIM is structured around independent modules for each stage of production. The Yarn Module measures yarn production processes; the Fabric Module covers fabric production; and the Garment Finishing Module, the finishing of the garment.
Each module can measure an individual production stage independently, while EIM+ connects the results to provide a complete view of the product. This also expands the scope of EIM: from a methodology historically associated with denim and garment finishing to a system that can be applied to any type of textile product, from yarn to finished garment.
EIM evaluates impact across water, energy and chemicals, while also assesing worker impact at the garment-finishing stage. Using a common methodology, EIM classifies the product’s environmental performance as low, medium or high impact, making the results clear and easy to compare.
Information that travels with the product
EIM’s evolution also enables information generated at different stages of production to be connected while maintaining its traceability. EIM uses primary data directly from production processes, applying a common methodology to ensure consistency and comparability.
The resulting information is structured for use in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Digital Product Passport (DPP), allowing environmental data generated during manufacturing to stay connected to the product.
As requirements for traceability and environmental information continue to grow, EIM gives brands and manufacturers easier access to reliable, structured information, removing the need to reconstruct a product’s impact from fragmented data scattered across the supply chain.
Built by the industry, for the industry
“EIM was created more than 15 years ago to address a very specific industry need: measuring the environmental impact of garment finishing. Today, the challenge is much broader. We need to understand what lies behind the entire product, connect the different stages and enable the whole supply chain to speak the same language. This evolution towards Environmental Intelligence allows us to take that step, using measurement to understand, compare and keep improving,” says Begoña García, EIM Director.
EIM was created within Jeanologia in 2009 and opened to the wider industry in 2011. Since then, the methodology has evolved alongside brands and manufacturers to become a global standard, used by more than 100 brands and 400 production facilities in over 50 countries.
More than 15 years later, EIM is expanding beyond garment finishing to cover the different stages of production and any type of textile product. Developed by and for the industry, this evolution draws on the experience and real-world needs of the brands and manufacturers that use it.
