ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the information flows regarding chemicals in global textile supply chains as illustrated by the case of Swedish textile retailers and their Chinese suppliers. There is a need for more knowledge on how chemical risk information is handled, especially considering international supply chains. In textile production, a large number of chemicals are used, for instance during cultivation of cotton fibres where herbicides and insecticides are used for plant protection. Different types of labelling programme are additional tools for importers and suppliers to communicate about chemicals. Although Chinese regulations for management of hazardous chemicals exist, the findings from the chapter shows that implementation of this legislation is mainly concentrated on controlling wastewater discharge from industry. The main method for data gathering has been semi-structured interviews with Swedish textile retailers and Chinese textile producers. Labels such as Oeko-Tex are seen as valuable by the suppliers as instruments to increase the competitive power of Chinese textile products.
