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Impact of materials
FAQ
Ts&Cs
The PEF methodology has certain limitations, which are defined in the PEFCR document. You will find below an extract of the limits known to date:
The following limitations shall be included in the PEF study report when conducting PEF studies in accordance with this PEFCR
- Because the PEF methodology is product- and not user- centric, this PEFCR does not allow for differentiation between the impact of a new or second-hand item.
- The duration of service of items is included in this PEFCR, but the methodology to measure the duration of service is highly debated and may be refined in the future. Non-physical durability attributes such as design (use of adjustable design features such as adjustable waist, enabling detaching and replacing parts such as pockets), or making the garment fit for different purposes, which may have an impact on how long a single user will use a product, are not included in this PEFCR. See more details in Section 3.3.2.1 and ANNEX VI – Exploring the extrinsic durability of apparel and footwear products.
- Toxicity aspects are measured with the LCIA method USEtox, which includes human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer effects) and freshwater ecotoxicity, but no marine water or terrestrial ecotoxicity for the moment. This method therefore does not cover the full impacts of chemicals on humans and ecosystems, which are covered by chemical legislation and other methodologies in Europe.
- The durability tables listed in ANNEX V – Detailed requirements regarding intrinsic quality do not apply to apparel products made up of 80% or more (by weight) genuine leather and/or fur. Hence, for these products, the durability multiplier defined in Section 3.3.3 doesn’t apply. As a result, the footprint of genuine leather and/or fur apparel products shall not be compared to the footprint of other apparel products.
- The initial microfiber impact assessment included in these PEFCR is limited and embeds a high uncertainty (both from the inventory data and the modelling used). It is recommended the approach to be updated as soon as more information is available to:
- Cover the entire lifecycle of apparel and footwear products, including production of raw materials, and shedding during use (wear) and end-of-life.
- Include the impact of microfibers on the entire marine compartment, as well as on any other relevant environmental compartment such as freshwater, air and land.
- This PEFCR has a time validity. Updates may be conducted earlier should any key limitation need to be resolved, key technologies change (e.g. recycling),or should better data be made available to inform the default product duration of service per product sub-category (see Table 7).