Intertek, the leading global provider of international trade solutions, today announced it has partnered with leading global retailers, consumer brands and fabric mills to launch an unprecedented industry program to facilitate industry-wide collaboration around better solutions for the social, environmental and quality performance of global fabric mills.

This unique program is designed to better prioritize the critical concerns facing responsible textile production today and adds clarity in identifying collaborative opportunities for most effectively leveraging available industry resources tomorrow. The Mill Qualification Program (MQP) addresses the challenges faced by retailers and consumer brands to assist suppliers in understanding and achieving their social, environmental and quality expectations. By facilitating industry collaboration towards the sharing of fabric mill performance behaviours, MQP enables a more efficient approach for responsible textile production, which advances sustainability and fosters overall industry innovation.

The absence of a widely accepted approach for measuring fabric mill performance and the expense of visiting geographically dispersed facilities makes it difficult for retailers, consumer brands and fabric mills alike to balance ensuring the quality their customers demand while upholding their sustainability values and commitments. MQP addresses this challenge by delivering several key benefits for all industry stakeholders:

Deep visibility into the supply chain

Greater awareness to mitigate risk

Independent evaluations that can be benchmarked

Improved speed to market

Reduced mill evaluation costs

Access to market-wide data for more informed decision making

Andre Raghu, President of Intertek Sustainability Solutions explains, "The successful promotion of responsible textile production depends on emphasizing performance and cost benefits in addition to sustainability value. This pioneering initiative will provide the global textile industry with a new operating environment to understand when sustainability factors are effectively integrated into business strategies and operations of fabric mills, allowing purchasers to weigh several key factors and take a best value approach in their buying decisions and not just price."

By enabling a more efficient process for all industry stakeholders, MQP participating retailers, consumer brands and fabric mills will benefit from smarter business decisions with greater confidence.

About Intertek

MQP is enabled by Intertek Sustainability Solutions, a network of global supply chain professional and technical experts, offering a broad range of trade advisory, technology and support services. Intertek (ITRK.L) is a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world. From auditing and inspection, to testing, quality assurance and certification, Intertek people are dedicated to adding value to customers' products and processes, supporting their success in the global marketplace. Intertek has the expertise, resources and global reach to support its customers through its network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 23,000 people in 110 countries around the world.

For more information, visit www.intertek.com