Interview With Dr. Jiang Hong, Technical Director Of SGS Asia Pacific

SGS Textile Laboratory is one of the earliest laboratories established by SGS in China. After more than 20 years of development, SGS has successively established eight standardized textile laboratories in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Ningbo, Nanjing and Xiamen, which are recognized as the basis for quality and integrity.

How on earth does SGS become the world's leading inspection, testing, identification and certification agency? This reporter visited Dr. Jiang Hong, the technical director of SGS Asia Pacific, with this question.

　　 Textile testing problems

According to Jiang Hong, the general test items of textiles include: first, composition, structure, dimensional stability, color fastness, strength, quality and combustion test; Second, carpets, clothing ingredients, down products, rubber gloves and related products, leather products, reflective clothing and other tests; Third, for the test of environmental textiles, the main items of ecological textiles that need to be controlled include banned azo dyes, carcinogenic dyes, sensitized dyes, alkylphenol/alkylphenol polyoxyether, extractable heavy metals, phenol, organic chlorine carriers, formaldehyde, organic tin compounds, phthalate plasticizers, pesticides, hexavalent chromium, nickel emissions, total lead, total cadmium PH value, color fastness, etc.

Among them, the main reason that affects the safety of textiles and will bring hidden hazards to the human body is that the chemical substances contained in the products exceed the standard, such as APEO, which has attracted attention recently. APEO is the main component of non-ionic surfactant, which is widely used as wetting agent and cleaner. However, its decomposition product, alkylphenol (AP), is an environmental hormone with aquatic toxicity and will interfere with the endocrine system.

"However, domestic garment enterprises are not aware of or master the requirements of domestic and foreign technical regulations, and the violation cost is low; as well as the inspection of raw and auxiliary materials procurement, production process control and outsourcing processing enterprises is not in place, garment quality problems occur frequently."

　　 Jiang Hong The reporter was introduced to the relevant situation of chemical safety related testing and certification of foreign textiles. In recent years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSIA) has improved: CPSIA affects all industries related to the production, import and distribution of toys, clothing and other children's products and care products in the United States, and has strict restrictions on the content of lead and phthalates. The EU mainly has EC 1907/2006 (Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Licensing and Restriction of Chemicals, REACH). More importantly, many emerging market countries have put forward new requirements for the safety and environmental protection performance of imported products, and have successively introduced various relevant regulations. For example, Vietnam officially implemented restrictions on azo dyes and formaldehyde content in textiles at the end of 2009; The regulations on import of textile and leather products issued by Egypt came into force in April 2012; As well as the Indonesian National Standard for Infant and Children's Clothing, which was officially implemented in December 2012. The safety problems of foreign textile and clothing chemicals mainly come from harmful chemicals that exceed the standard. The detection contents include formaldehyde, banned carcinogenic azo dyes, pH value, alkyl phenol/alkyl phenol polyoxyether, extractable heavy metals (including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, cobalt, lead, mercury, nickel, etc.), phenol, organic chlorine carriers, pesticide residues, phthalates, flame retardants Organic volatiles, fluorescent agents, fungicides, bioactive substances, special odors, etc. At present, the certification related to chemical safety of textiles in the market mainly includes Oeko Tex 100, bluesign Global Organic Textile Certification (GOTS), etc.

　　 International leading SGS

What makes Jiang Hong proud is that, She said: "SGS textile laboratory has a perfect quality assurance system, has passed CMACNAS, UKAS and other qualification certification, and has been recognized by many countries and regions. It can provide corresponding testing services for the standards of the United States, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and other countries and regions according to the European Union REACH regulations."

It is reported that SGS Group has more than 70000 employees around the world, distributed in more than 1350 branches and laboratories, forming a global service network. SGS SGS-CSTC Standards Technical Services Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established in 1991 by SGS Group and China Standards and Technology Development Corporation, which is affiliated to the former National Bureau of Quality and Technology Supervision. It has set up more than 50 branches and dozens of laboratories in China, and has more than 10000 well-trained professionals.

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The reporter asked why SGS is recognized as the world's leading inspection, testing, identification and certification agency?

She replied: SGS Textile Lab has advanced testing instruments and equipment, gathers a large number of professional and technical talents, and can provide the textile industry with the most comprehensive guarantee scheme: product performance testing services, including physical and chemical testing, footwear testing and various functional tests, and various testing services based on national (GB) standards and methods; The inspection service comprehensively covers the supply chain, from the raw material inspection before production to the initial, intermediate and final sampling inspection during production, to the supervision of shipment and packing during transportation; Factory audit and certification, regulatory technical consultation and training, environmental protection testing of ecological textiles, advisory services of self set laboratories, product care label evaluation, energy low-carbon services, Bluesign? Certification and hazardous substance control.

In addition, SGS Textile Lab can provide more professional testing and services for different textile raw materials such as down and leather; Provide one-stop footwear service from testing to wearing test for footwear products.

"The professional and high-quality services of SGS textile laboratories have also been widely recognized by the industry. In June 2012, four textile laboratories of SGS Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changzhou and Hangzhou obtained the first batch of white list management system testing qualifications issued by the China Textile Industry Federation." Jiang Hong proved with actual results that: "SGS Textile Laboratory has successively won the Best Cooperation Award of China Knitting Industry Association, the Special Contribution Award of China Textile and Clothing Competitiveness Assessment, and the title of the best service provider for testing (footwear and clothing) in China for two consecutive years."

Speaking of the success concept SGS has adhered to for many years, Jiang Hong said: "SGS has been providing customers in all fields around the world with sustainable development solutions, and its service capability covers the upstream and downstream supply chains of agricultural products, minerals, petrochemical, industry, consumer goods, automobiles, life sciences and other industries. In recent years, SGS has continued to innovate and forge ahead in the fields of environment, new energy, energy efficiency and low-carbon, and is committed to promoting the economy with professional testing and certification services The harmonious and win-win environment and society will provide all-round sustainable development solutions for domestic and foreign enterprises, governments and institutions. "

"Secondly, it is one of SGS's unchanging business philosophy to always operate the enterprise with a responsible attitude and give back to the society." Jiang Hongshen felt.

　　 How to deal with textile safety problems?

Dr. Jiang Hong has taught textile chemistry in many universities in northeast and central China. He has been engaged in the field of textiles and chemistry for a long time. He has in-depth research on the structure and performance of polymer materials and the development of new technologies. He was responsible for and undertook a series of national, ministerial and provincial key scientific and technological research projects, and successfully applied for a number of patent projects, He has made unique achievements in the academic field, published dozens of scientific and technological professional papers, and won the National Industry Paper Award and the Provincial Industry Paper Award. With the rapid development of China's textile production and retail industry, Dr. Jiang Hong provides technical consulting services to enterprises, and has held hundreds of seminars in China and overseas to promote and implement domestic and foreign standards and regulations, which have received warm responses. At the same time, Dr. Jiang Hong is also very familiar with the environmental project management of the factory, such as waste chemicals and solid waste management, wastewater and gas treatment, and cleaner production methods and practices.

Jiang Hong Yes Textile industry Thoroughly understood and faced with the quality problems of children's clothing, she said with concern that the current quality problems of children's clothing mainly include: first, there are safety hazards in the design, which are manifested in the unreasonable design of rope and belt, decorations and small parts. These unreasonable designs may cause strangulation, suffocation, dragging and swallowing injuries to infants. Second, the chemical safety indicators of children's clothing accessories failed to pass the test. The problematic children's clothing fabrics mainly contain banned azo dyes, excessive formaldehyde, excessive heavy metals (nickel, lead, cadmium), phthalates, and the pH value does not meet the standard requirements, and the color fastness is unqualified. Third, manufacturing defects, including insecure sewing, poor bonding fastness, broken needle residue and other problems, may cause suffocation, skin injury and other potential safety hazards. Fourth, the flame retardancy is not up to standard. If the fabric burns too fast or melts after burning, children will be easily burned, scalded or even life-threatening.

For the safety of children's clothing, different markets have different regulations, for example, the CPSIA regulations on harmful substances such as lead and phthalates in children's products and the requirements for small parts in toys and products used by children that may cause risks such as infarction, inhalation or swallowing; And 16 CFR 1615 and 1616 children's nightwear flammability standards; Requirements related to physical and chemical safety of children's consumer goods in the EU GPSD General Product Safety Directive and REACH regulations; China GB 18041 National Technical Code for Basic Safety of Textile Products specifies the safety requirements for items such as formaldehyde content, pH value, color fastness, etc. in infant products.

"Strengthen the right Children's clothing Supervision of product design; Strengthen source supervision; Strengthen the safety supervision of the key process of children's clothing production; Strengthen the supervision and supervision of enterprise laboratories; Strengthen the classified management of children's clothing enterprises. These are the experiences we can learn from abroad. " She said.

In addition, facing the increasing "trade barriers" in terms of textile technology and safety, Jiang Hong actively supported domestic enterprises to deal with the increasingly serious textile safety problems.

First, enterprises should actively participate in international trade and environmental affairs, and actively participate in the coordination, negotiation and rule making of international environment and trade relations.

　　 "With the increasing degree of opening up to the outside world, textile and clothing enterprises must clearly understand the legal and regulatory requirements of importing countries and the terms of 'green barriers' while conducting international trade. The legal and regulatory requirements for textiles in different countries are different, so textile enterprises should understand in detail before signing contracts. It is suggested that enterprises should first evaluate when receiving orders Product index requirements. If the indicators are too high, it will be difficult for enterprises to make profits. "

Secondly, strengthen technological innovation and improve relevant systems and institutions. Actively implement ISO14001 certification, promote cleaner production, improve product quality and enhance the international competitiveness of products; Developing ecological textiles; Developing and introducing new and high technologies; Create an internationally recognized inspection agency for textile and clothing products; Strengthen the implementation of environmental labeling and certification.