4.9 Duration of Service
The Duration of Service section enables users to select characteristics that contribute to extending the typical usable life of a product. Responses in this section will be used to calculate the impact of the duration of service associated with your product.
The Duration of Service section of the Higg PM considers material and full product tests for seven different types of products, focusing on the physical attributes that can make a product’s service last longer. The number of tests for each product have been narrowed to those associated with the most common product failure modes identified by Cascale member experts. These have been further refined by the Technical Secretariat for the Global Apparel and Footwear Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR), which is developing a similar approach for including product quality into the product lifetime. The tests and thresholds in the Higg PM are not the final version of those being developed for the PEFCR, but were the most current versions at the time of the Higg PM being built. Once a final proposal is developed for the PEFCR, the Cascale plans to update the Duration of Service section of the Higg PM.
Completing this section is entirely optional. Not all product categories will have duration of service factors listed.
Duration of service customization options are available for the following product types:
- Waterproof Breathable Jacket
- Athletic Shoe
- Casual Shoes
- Denim Product
- Bed Linens
- Woven Product
- Knit Product
Once the product type is selected, the screen will show a series of questions based on common quality tests for the specific product type. The questions determine whether or not your product reaches a certain level of durability, performance, or quality that would extend its duration of service.
If the responses in this section indicate that the product’s duration of service is extended, the product’s absolute environmental impact will increase. This is due to the longer use phase, which will result in more impact incurred from ongoing product care (e.g., washing and drying).
However, an extended duration of service will decrease the product’s impact per use. This is due to the longer use phase, which will result the product being worn more times.
Absolute and per-use environmental impacts can be compared once the product assessment has been saved.