Created in 1993, the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council®) is an international label guaranteeing that the wood used complies with sustainable forest management procedures. Its wide-ranging view of the issues linked to deforestation makes it a true "eco-social label". What this term means is that the FSC covers issues that reach far beyond forests: the FSC label works against environmental degradation, in terms of biodiversity and landscapes, but also against the social upheaval that poor forest management can cause, since an estimated 60 million people live in forests and 1.6 billion people around the world depend on forests for their survival.
The FSC estimates that every year, 13 million hectares of forest are converted to non-forest uses. To give you an idea, it's as if every year a forest the size of Greece were converted to another use. This forest degradation contributes to the loss of thousands of animal and plant species each year. Responsible forest management, meaning management that respects biodiversity, ecological balance and water resources, is therefore essential to break this vicious circle. That's the whole point of the FSC label.
The FSC label
The FSC label is a certification system for forest management, but it also labels the wood taken from forests. When you see the FSC label on an item containing wood, it guarantees that this wood comes from legal, sustainably managed forestry. It also means that this wood is not linked to deforestation and that harvesting it does not harm biodiversity. Finally, the FSC label is your assurance that the wood you're holding does not come from a forest of genetically modified trees and was not harvested in violation of people's traditional or civil rights.
To be FSC labelled, forests must meet a set of 10 principles, applied internationally:
Think these principles should be the bare minimum? So do we, but today only 5% of the world's forests are FSC labelled, including 0.02% in France...
How can you tell if wood has the FSC label?
The FSC offers 3 types of certification:
- FSC 100%: the product is made with 100% FSC-labelled fibres
- FSC Recycled: the product is made with 100% FSC-labelled recycled fibres
- FSC Mix: the product is made with at least 70% FSC-labelled fibres + photo
These three types of certification make it easier to adapt to specific needs. According to WWF, the FSC label is the only indicator demanding and effective enough to tackle the ecological and social issues linked to forest management.
As we saw earlier, the FSC label can be awarded to a forest or to a company that uses wood. WeDressFair offers you items made with FSC wood, which means these companies are FSC labelled. For a company, this label is a way to make a real commitment to reducing its environmental impact, notably because it guarantees the traceability of every product across the entire production chain. So you can trace an item's whole journey, right back to the forest the wood came from!
Discover our range of eco-friendly women's clothing and our eco-friendly men's clothing for fashion that respects the planet and people.
