Beveridge & Diamond advises on all environmental issues facing the textiles and apparel industries, from raw material production to product end-of-life management.
Why B&D?
With more than 150 lawyers focused on environmental law and litigation, B&D advises companies in the apparel and textiles industries on the many global environmental and sustainability issues that affect their products and operations. In doing so, we combine our experience in the field and insights from advising adjacent industries—such as retail, consumer products, forest products, and agriculture—to offer comprehensive environmental, health, and safety (EHS) support to our clients.
The apparel and textiles industries rely on a complex global supply chain subject to a web of dynamic, evolving environmental compliance obligations. Our Product Stewardship team helps our clients design strategies to achieve their goals while efficiently navigating the labyrinth of regulations governing all aspects of the value chain, including:
- Natural and synthetic material production and extraction (including conflict minerals)
- Organic and other certifications
- Chemical use and storage (including biocides and preservatives in textiles)
- Consumer safety requirements
- Import/export of raw materials, equipment, and products
- Production facility permitting and environmental management
- Product labeling, reporting, and disclosures
- Supplier management (including contracts and indemnification)
- End-of-life and waste management processes (reuse, repair, recycling, and disposal)
In addition, our International practice helps companies globally identify, understand, and comply with the expanding body of international, national, and sub-national environmental law. Multinational businesses benefit from our carefully vetted network of local environmental counsel and consultants, and our involvement in multilateral treaty negotiations, which ensure clarity and efficiency for our clients across jurisdictions. B&D is the convener of the China EHS Roundtable - a membership group that gives multinational companies with interests in China, like many apparel industry stakeholders, a forum through which to learn about China’s rapidly advancing EHS regulations.
We also stay ahead of emerging areas in environmental law to ensure that our clients are informed and prepared. As the apparel and textile industries strive to meet the requirements of growing circular economy legislation worldwide and increased customer demand for ethically-made, environmentally-friendly products, our ESG, Sustainability practice works with clients and their sustainability teams to develop sustainable practices to maximize opportunity and minimize compliance risk.
Finally, the lawyers in our Audits, Risk, and Compliance Program Assessments practice work alongside clients’ EHS teams to conduct environmental audits and internal assessments, and implement environmental management systems. Through this work, we help clients prevent, detect, and respond to EHS risks and concerns to keep employees safe, avoid enforcement action, and prevent disruption of operations.
Clients
Our clients include:
- Apparel, footwear, and accessories brands
- Natural and synthetic fiber producers
- Manufacturers
- Retailers
- Distributors
- Recyclers
Focus
- Climate disclosures
- Energy use, renewable energy
- Environmental compliance program design, training
- ESG benchmarking, reporting, and risk evaluation
- Exposure assessments, warnings (CA Prop 65)
- Forced labor/human rights
- “Green” marketing (FTC Green Guides), training
- Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, GHG offsets
- Market-access, material restrictions (RoHS)
- NGO interaction strategies, corporate partnerships
- Organic and other agricultural certifications, defense against challenges
- Pesticides and biocides in textiles, treated article exemption
- PFAS issues (coatings, weather protection)
- Plastics, microplastics – U.S., regional, global initiatives
- Product approvals for existing and new chemicals (TSCA, FIFRA, REACH)
- Project development and permitting
- Regional and global recycling programs
- Strategies for transactions, leases, supplier/vendor agreements
- Supply chain due diligence, disclosures (e.g., SEC Conflict Minerals Rule)
- Sustainable packaging
- Toxic tort and product liability
- Trans-boundary movement of waste
- UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Waste - State and federal regulations (RCRA, CalHWCA)
- Water rights, water quality, industrial discharges
- Worker safety, emergency response, safety audits (OSHA)
