“The SDC is a great place to share and develop knowledge and good practice”
Multi-national organisation, Bureau Veritas, is the latest SDC company member to be profiled here, on our blog.
Established in France in 1828, this huge company services 400,000 clients across 140 countries, helping them to be more efficient, methodical, and trustworthy in their journeys to become sustainable businesses.
Technical consultant for softlines, Helen Colebourn, talked to us about her work and her employer’s special relationship with the SDC.
When did Bureau Veritas become a company member of SDC, and what were the reasons for applying?
Bureau Veritas CPSUK joined the SDC in May 2008. The reason was to further establish the company’s reputation as an expert in the field of textile testing.
Does Bureau Veritas find the wider colour network a source of ideas, insight and inspiration, and if so, how?
Our technical team members regularly attend the online webinars and find that the SDC is a great source to share and develop knowledge and good practices in the world of coloration.
Tell us more about the role of colour in your day-to-day operations.
Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services is one of the world’s leading consumer and technology product testing, inspection/audit and certification bodies. We work closely with our clients to achieve safe, quality and sustainable products.
We test the security of colour, and colour fastness, and have a keen analytical interest in compliance. We make sure that consumer goods from clothing and footwear to household textiles are free from harmful chemicals.
Our investigative work takes in discharge management – what happens to chemicals following dyeing processes – and matters such as the impact of microplastics and microfibres involved in coloration and finishing.
How important is it for an organisation like yours to have experts in coloration on board?
As the UK’s colour specialist for Bureau Veritas, I have a BSc in clothing engineering and an MSc in textile technology. We also have teams in Germany and the Far East, and colour technicians in all of our Consumer Products Services laboratories, which number about 300.
Together we add a layer of bolt-on expertise for our clients and as part of this we offer training for global suppliers, increasing knowledge and understanding across international supply chains.
Sustainability is embedded in our culture, our strategy, our entire organisation, and across all our businesses.
How is the SDC supporting you?
I have a good understanding of colour chemistry but I’m not a colour chemist. I have watched a lot of SDC webinars and this is very helpful to my work but the knowledge and expertise within the SDC community is a step up from what I would call my base level, provided by my degree and MSc.
Should the need arise, it is very good to know we can call upon and consult the SDC on finer points of colour science, as the organisation at the pinnacle of this field of research and enquiry.
*A longer version of this interview appeared in SDC members’ publication The Colourist.