1. Content Guidance Overview

Materials in the Higg MSI are organized in a hierarchical manner that allows for use and customization based on the amount of information that is available and can be validated. The general structure is illustrated in the following diagram.

Example:

Textiles is a Material Category

Cotton Fabric is an Example Material within the Textiles Material Category

Raw Material Source is a Production Stage common to all Textiles and therefore used in Cotton Fabric

Cotton fiber, conventional production is a process option within the Raw Material Source Production Stage for Cotton Fabric

The content guidance for the Higg MSI is organized in a similar manner. Choosing a link to a Material Category will provide guidance on selecting the right Example Material from the available options. Further links are organized around Production Stages, with guidance on process selection ranging from broadly applicable to material-specific choices.

Example:

1. The current page provides guidance on Material Categories.
2. Clicking on “Textiles” in the sidebar takes you to a page that explains the different Example Material options available within Textiles.
3. Clicking on a Production Stage, such as Raw Material Source, takes you to a page with specific guidance around selecting processes for that Production Stage.
4. The Raw Material Source Production Stage page in the“Cotton Fabric” section shows the different process options and when each one should be chosen.

Material Categories:

Materials in the Higg MSI are divided into ten Material Categories:

2. Chemistry Management Qualifiers

Chemistry Certifications

The chemistry score of a material can be reduced by adding Chemistry Certifications. These are certifications and programs that have submitted assessments and been reviewed as part of the Higg MSI Chemistry Impact Framework. For more information, see Appendix D of the Higg MSI Methodology Document and read the Frequently Asked Questions.

Chemistry Management Qualifiers can be added in two areas of the Higg MSI:

• As part of the “Chemistry Certifications” Production Stage (Material level)
• As part of the “Chemistry Certification” column in Additional Process Options (Facility and Process level)

The Chemistry Certifications are mapped to different material and process types and only applicable certifications are shown. Below is the full list, as well as when they should be applied:

All Chemistry Certifications that can be selected at the Production Stage require the full material to be certified. The facility having certification without confirmation of material level certification is not sufficient.

• Bluesign Certified[Material] should be selected only when the material is confirmed to be a bluesign® APPROVED material. For more information, visithttps://www.bluesign.com/en. Materials produced at bluesign system partner facilities without confirmed bluesign APPROVED status should not select this certification.
• Cradle to Cradle Gold Certified[Material] should be selected only when the material is confirmed to be a Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold or Platinum materials. For more information, visit https://www.c2ccertified.org/. Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Basic, Bronze, and Silver should not select this certification.
• Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) Certified [Material]should be selected only when the full textile material is GOTS certified. For more information, visit https://www.global-standard.org/. The full textile must be GOTS certified. Organic content without GOTS certification at the material level should not select this certification.
• Global Recycled Standard (GRS) Certified[Material]should be selected only when the full material is GRS certified. For more information, visit https://textileexchange.org/. The full material must be certified. Recycled content without GRS certification at the material level should not select this certification.
• OekoTex Made in Green Certified [Material] should be selected only when the full material is OekoTex® Made in Green certified. For more information, visit https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/. This certification encompasses both OekoTex Standard 100 and STePcertification. When selecting this certification, it is not required to select both certifications separately. Additionally, selecting OekoTex Standard 100 and/or STeP certification will not result in a difference of scoring.
• OekoTex Standard 100 Certified [Material] should be selected only when the full material is OekoTex® Standard 100 certified. For more information, visit https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/. Intermediate products (such as yarn) that are Standard 100 certified should not select this certification.

All Chemistry Certifications that can be selected in the Additional Process Options section of the Higg MSI are applied to the specific process selection. If a certification is applicable to multiple Production Stages, then it should be applied to each process.

• Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) [Raw Material] should be selected when the cotton raw material is BCI cotton. For more information, visit https://bettercotton.org. This selection is only available for cotton raw material source.
• Global Recycled Standard (GRS) [Raw Material] should be selected when the recycled content is certified GRS. For more information, visit https://textileexchange.org/. This selection is only available for recycled raw material sources. If the full material is GRS certified, as selected through the Production Stage [Material] option, this certification does not have to be additionally selected at the process level.
• Cradle to Cradle Gold Certified [Raw Material] should be selected when the raw material is certified Cradle to Cradle Gold raw material.For more information, visit https://www.c2ccertified.org/. If the full material is Cradle to Cradle Gold certified, as selected through the Production Stage [Material] option, this certification does not have to be additionally selected at the process level.
• Oeko-TexSTeP Level 2+ [Facility] should be selected when the process takes place at a facility that has achieved OekoTexSTeP Level 2 certification.For more information, visit https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/. If the facility has only achieved STeP Level 1, this certification should not be selected. If the full material is OekoTex Made in Green certified, as selected through the Production Stage [Material] option, this certification does not have to be additionally selected at the facility level.
• Global Recycled Standard (GRS) [Facility] should be selected when the process takes place at a facility that has achieved GRS certification. For more information, visit https://textileexchange.org/. If the full material is GRS certified, as selected through the Production Stage [Material] option, this certification does not have to be additionally selected at the facility level.

3. Transportation Impacts and Process Loss Rates

Transportation and Process Loss Rates are shown in the Additional Process Options section of the Higg MSI. Both are part of the dynamic calculations required to assess a material in the Higg MSI.

Process Loss Rates

Process Loss Rates are used to determine upstream material demand, measuring how efficient each process is. The higher the loss rate is, the more input material is required to create a kilogram of final material. Process Loss Rates are not customizable fields, butare provided for context into what is driving the material impacts. The loss rate for each process is set based on available efficiency information (such as Textile Exchange’s Fiber Conversion Methodology), provided as part of datasets or MSI Contributor submissions, or based on system defaults from expert guidance. More information on the Process Loss Rates can be read in the Higg MSI Methodology Document.

Transportation Impacts

Transportation Impacts are calculated based on the amount of incoming material for each Production Stage (using Process Loss Rates) as well as on the inbound transportation distance and transportation mode. Both inbound transportation distance and transportation mode are customizable fields.

The default inbound transportation distance between each Production Stage is 200 kilometers. The first Production Stage (Raw Material Source) does not have an inbound transportation stage since all inputs are included as part of the process model (including any applicable inbound transportation of mass inputs).

When customizing the inbound transportation distance, it is possible to select either kilometers or miles as the unit of distance. The distance should be measured between the facility supplying the previous intermediate material and the receiving facility. The distance calculation should be as accurate as possible, although point-to-point distances are still preferred over the default distance. Given the relatively small contribution of transportation impacts to the overall material footprint, using the default transportation distances will generally not lead to large differences. For processes happening in the same facility, the transportation distance can be set to 1 kilometer.

There are four different transportation modes available:

• Freight Truck, Large is the default selection and should be chosen when the transportation is primarily done by an on-the-road network (based on distance travelled).
• Ocean should be selected when the inbound transportation distance has been customized and the inbound freight is primarily transported by ocean freight (based on distance travelled).
• Rail should be selected when the inbound transportation distance has been customized and the inbound freight is primarily transported by rail freight (based on distance travelled).
• Air should be selected when the inbound transportation distance has been customized and the inbound freight is primarily transported by air freight (based on distance travelled).

4. Units of Measure and Yield Conversions

When creating a custom material, the Units of Measure can be customized. While this does not have any impact on the assessment of the material, it does determine the applicable unit types that will be available when creating custom trims/components, custom packaging, and when assessing a product in the Higg Product Module.

The default unit of measure for all custom materials is kilograms.

If a material is typically measured in a different weight unit than kilograms, it is possible to select this unit without providing any additional information. The available units of weight are:

Weight

• Grams
• Kilograms
• Pounds
• Milligrams
• Ounces

Yield

If a material is measured in a specific yield unit, it is possible to adjust for this by selecting the unit type and providing additional information. The first step is to select “Yes” under Yield. The default selection is “No”.

Once “Yes” is selected, a new menu opens with “Add Yield”. You can select between different units, each of which is appended with either “Linear” or “Volumetric”.

• Linear unit types should be selected when the material weight density is known in terms of area, such as a textile material that has the area weight reported in grams per square meter.
• Volumetric unit types should be selected when the material weight density is known in terms of volume, such as a foam material that has the weight reported in pounds per cubic foot.

Additional fields may be shown, depending on the unit type entered.

• Density is the area density (weight per area) for linear unit types and volumetric density (weight per volume) for volumetric unit types. Different units of measure for the density types are available. For area density, the unit types are g/m2, kg/m2, lbs/yd2, and oz/yd2. For volumetric density, the unit types are kg/m3 and lb/ft3.
• Width is the roll width of a material, such as the fabric width for textiles. It is available in meters, yards, inches, and centimeters. When selecting width, the full width should be used as opposed to cuttable width.
• Thickness is how thick the material is when in an uncompressed state (matching the volumetric density). It is measured in inches, centimeters, and millimeters.

Each of the units requires specific additional information:

• Yards (linear) requires the density and width fields to be filled out.
• Meters (linear) requires the density and width fields to be filled out.
• Feet (linear) requires the density and width fields to be filled out.
• Square Yards (linear) requires the density field to be filled out.
• Square Meters (linear) requires the density field to be filled out.
• Square Feet (linear) requires the density field to be filled out.
• Yards (volumetric) requires the density, width, and thickness fields to be filled out.
• Meters (volumetric) requires the density, width, and thickness fields to be filled out.
• Feet (volumetric) requires the density, width, and thickness fields to be filled out.
• Square Yards (volumetric) requires the density and thickness fields to be filled out.
• Square Meters (volumetric) requires the density and thickness fields to be filled out.
• Square Feet (volumetric) requires the density and thickness fields to be filled out.