Wednesday, July 13, 2011

[ Technical textiles - Taiwan's Progress.]

The issue of sustainable development has become a global trend, especially after the United Nations in 2005 named sustainable development one of its long-term missions, and after the Executive Yuan passed the “National Carbon Reduction Plan.” As the nation's leading textile R&D agency, Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) in May helped G-Fun Industrial Corp. get eight of its products certified by the British Standards Institute (BSI) for carbon footprint mitigation. On July 8, TTRI held a ceremony in which BSI issued the certificate to G-Fun. The event also saw BSI signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with TTRI, which will become an important partner of the British Standards Institute in Taiwan.

G-Fun is a technical textile manufacturer which, with the assistance of TTRI, obtained the BSI PAS 2050:2008 certificate for eight of its products. With the certificate, G-Fun products are “completely certified,” as opposed to products that are only “partially certified” through less stringent certification processes.

G-Fun has worked on waterproof technical textiles for over 10 years and is a leader in the industry, marketing its products to the rest of the world with its brand “G-TEX.” In fact, according to many, G-Fun is to the textile industry as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is to the integrated circuit industry.

While running a successful business and raking in big bucks in the process, G-Fun chairman Tsai Chiu-hsiung hasn't forgotten his corporate social responsibility by developing products using environment-friendly, non-toxic and biodegradable ingredients. The firm's application of the BSI PAS 2050 certificate represents its commitment to sustainable development.

TTRI, meanwhile, founded its carbon footprint reduction committee in 2010 and signed an MOU with BSI in August of that year, agreeing to help local firms get green product-related certificates. As for the future, TTRI will help manufacturers obtain not only the PAS 2050 certificate but also the PAS 2060 and ISO 50001 ones.

During the ceremony Friday, TTRI and BSI signed a new MOU, which will provide more BSI certification opportunities to Taiwan manufacturers and help them raise their visibility in the international stage.

This is a TTRI commercial supplement.