Global Footwear Product Safety Guide Released

The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) and TÜV SÜD released the first ever Global Footwear Product Safety Guide. The guide covers both chemical and physical testing requirements and suggested protocols for footwear.  Previous FDRA guidebooks only covered chemical testing.

The guide provides a concise and tiered approach to understanding exactly what chemicals are used in the production of footwear and where those chemicals are regulated worldwide. Also included in the guide are tiered physical testing guidelines ensuring that companies understand all the various physical testing requirements either required by law or needed to ensure the continued production of high quality footwear for consumers. The guide can be downloaded here: http://fdra.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Footwear-FDRA-Chemical-and-Physical-Testing-Guidebook-2014-July.pdf.

“As the COO of the largest children’s footwear importer in the U.S., I have had the unique opportunity to see multiple approaches companies take to address product safety within their supply chains,” said Josue Solano, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at BBC International and Chairman of FDRA’s Product Safety Enhancement Committee. “The problem the industry faces is that multiple companies are interpreting regulations and what is relevant to product safety for the footwear category differently.”

This imbalance is causing confusion at the factory level and hurting the ability to more effectively make products safer for our consumers, says Solano. “The FDRA has embarked on an important initiative to deliver the industry a footwear specific guide on how to address chemical and physical testing globally. With this guide, the FDRA is now providing the industry with a template that is understandable and can be executed across all companies which will bring consistency to our industry and clarity to a confusing topic with many moving parts,”

Solano continued, “Through the committee, we have collaborated with a number of company executives and managers to collect input and insight on their points of view on managing product safety. This collaborative effort along with the technical expertise of TÜV SÜD have positioned the FDRA to publish this important piece of work.”

“Over the past year there has been a real buzz among compliance and product safety managers and executives over FDRA’s new comprehensive product safety program,” said Greg Tunney, CEO and President of RG Barry Brands and FDRA Chairman. “FDRA has established a more robust structure through its Product Safety Enhancement Committee chaired by BBC’s Josue Solano and through its working group. This has allowed product safety professionals the ability to direct FDRA to get exactly what they need, which is why this new guide is so important because it was created by the industry itself.”

“Thanks to TÜV SÜD and our product safety industry experts like Josue, this will now be the go-to guide for the footwear industry” said FDRA President Matt Priest. “Our strategic partnership with TÜV SÜD continues to deliver strong value to all FDRA members. This includes an ever-growing comprehensive product safety program, which incorporates workshops around the globe and new in-depth products and services to help the industry better understand shifting regulations related to product safety.”