Intertek: Total Quality Assurance solutions for UK retailers, brands and manufacturers
19/11/2024
UKFT Associate member Intertek is a leading Total Quality Assurance provider offering discounted rates on a wide range of services to UKFT members. Intertek can help your business with assurance, testing, inspection and certification solutions. Continue reading to find out more.
UKFT Associate member Intertek is a leading Total Quality Assurance provider offering innovative and bespoke assurance, testing, inspection and certification solutions to a wide range of industries worldwide. The company helps retailers, brands and manufacturers of textile products, apparel, home textiles, footwear and accessories to assure their products’ safety, quality, performance and sustainability.
Intertek can support your business’ operations and supply chains through Total Quality Assurance solutions. UKFT members can access an exclusive discount on Intertek’s services as part of their membership. Contact info@ukft.org to find out more. Not a member? Join UKFT.
Intertek’s journey into textile quality assurance started in 1973 in a Labtest in Honk Kong: “When a visionary Raymond Kong foresaw the eastward movement of global manufacturing and the resulting need for Quality Assurance.”
“For over 50 years, we have partnered with fashion brands, retailers, and manufacturers to meet their end-to-end quality assurance needs throughout the fashion value chain. We safeguard the quality, safety and sustainability of fashion products, processes and systems through our Assurance, Testing, Inspection and Certification (ATIC) services.”
Assurance, Testing, Inspection & Certification services
Intertek’s Assurance, Testing, Inspection & Certification (ATIC) services can help your business ensure the quality, safety and sustainability of your products at all stages. The company offers training courses to support businesses across the textile value chain with building their capabilities continuously. Intertek commented:
“Our goal is to leverage our unique ATIC approach and harness the power of science-based big data to create a market-leading, risk-based quality assurance model that suits the needs of every business. Quality assurance investment can then be allocated to areas where they are most needed, based on risk profiles of the various stakeholders. The result can be an optimised Total Quality Assurance program that delivers greater value within the same budget, while reducing supply chain risks and improving speed to market.”
Intertek outlined its ATIC services below:
Assurance: “On the social front, we provide assurance through social compliance audit programs such as Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audits (SMETA) and the Intertek Workplace Conditions Assessment (WCA) program. For sustainability, our solutions include Think Green Initiative (TGI), Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWL), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Green House Gas Assurance among others. For textile mills, we have the Mill Qualification Program (MQP) to bridge key sustainability measures with quality performance.”
Testing: “From testing the flammability of clothing for regulatory compliance to assessing the breathability and biodegradability of shoes for quality and performance, Intertek provides comprehensive physical and chemical testing through its global network of some 50 textile laboratories and 6,000 employees, 24/7.”
Inspection: “With more than 1,000 inspectors around the globe, Intertek offers comprehensive inspection services to help assure customers deliver the highest-quality products to market with speed and precision.”
Certification: “We help customers demonstrate due diligence through the certification of products, suppliers and systems to Textile Exchange, GOTS and Better Cotton standards and drive sustainability with ISO 14001 certification. We help customers demonstrate due diligence through the certification of products, suppliers and systems to Textile Exchange, GOTS and Better Cotton standards and drive sustainability with ISO 14001 certification.”
Digital Innovations : “We never stop innovating, offering market-leading digital innovations such as Global Market Access for regulatory compliance, i2Q for inspection intelligence, SourceClear for traceability, InLight for supply chain risk management, InterLink 2.0 for total quality assurance management, and ToxClear for sustainable chemical management, alongside our comprehensive range of Total Quality Assurance offerings.”
Find out more about Intertek online:
Sustainability 101: Human rights due diligence and high-risk restricted chemicals
In 2024, Intertek took part in Episode 6 and Episode 10 of UKFT’s Sustainability 101 webinar programme, that covers sustainability topics such as standards, Green Claims, Greenwashing and Due Diligence. This is part of UKFT’s goal to simplify the journey towards sustainability and help companies make the right choices by providing unbiased, industry-specific guidance. The following webinars are currently available on demand to UKFT members:
- Episode 6 – Introduction to Human Rights Due Diligence: Athiya Khatri, Technical Specialist at Intertek, and Lottie Watkinson, Business Development Manager at the Social and Labor Convergence Program, offered insight into Human Rights Due Diligence, the typical audit process and different assessment types offered by Intertek.
- Episode 10 – High-risk restricted chemical substances in the apparel and footwear sector: Dr. Kathy Leung, Senior Technical Director (Chemical Support, Global Softlines) at Intertek, covered chemical compliance, high risk and commonly found substances, high risk products, materials, coatings and finishes, as well as product recalls based on restricted substances.
UKFT members can get in touch at info@ukft.org to request access to the webinar recordings. Not yet a member? Join UKFT.
Intertek is an Associate member of UKFT. Associate Membership is open to organisations who are specialists in their areas of expertise and can offer tangible and membership enhancing benefits to UKFT members.
UKFT members wanting to discuss working with one of our associate members and partners or to take advantage of a special offer, can contact info@ukft.org.
Email info@ukft.org for your member introduction.