Fashion’s Biggest Data Partner Just Got Bigger: Worldly Acquires FFC

Kaley Roshitsh
·2 min read

Bolstering social impact data is easier with a helping hand. Worldly (formerly known as Higg Co.) on Wednesday revealed the acquisition of the assets of Fair Factories Clearinghouse.

Worldly is the preeminent supply chain sustainability tool, used by more than 40,000 fashion brands, retailers and manufacturers. FFC is known for its software that enhances social, environmental impact and security conditions within supply chains, measuring working conditions in more than 30,000 factories. The nonprofit worked closely with the Bangladesh Accord signatories to get factory transparency data online, at its time of coverage.

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FFC was formed in 2004 with financial backing from the U.S. Department of State, National Retail Federation, Retail Council of Canada and World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry.

With the acquisition Worldly aims to foster the scaling of supply chain transparency while complementing its existing social and labor assessment tools, the companies said. Already, the impact intelligence platform combines methodologies from Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals, Bluesign and the Higg Index, among others.

“By hosting these tools in one place, both organizations hope to increase efficiency for global brands, retailers, and manufacturers,” John Armstrong, Worldly’s chief technology officer, told WWD. “We’re committed to providing all users a smooth and continuous experience. Right away, there will not be any user experience changes. In the coming months, facilities that use the FFC solution will be able to access it on Worldly and more quickly and easily gather and share their social assessment data with their brand and retailer customers. Over time we also hope to make it easier for facilities that use the FFC assessments to share the necessary primary data with their brand and retailer partners.”

The FFC team will be staying on and joining the Worldly team. Peter Burrows, FFC’s executive director, said Worldly was at the “top of his list” when scouting potential buyers. The deal amount was undisclosed.

“Worldly has deep roots in the social and labor space within fashion and footwear, and it is acutely aware of how to develop best-in-class assessment technology, collect the primary data and generate the insights from it that our users need to run their social and labor programs. We’re very excited that FFC is now part of Worldly and look forward to continuing to evolve our services and growing the value we deliver to our users,” Burrows said in a statement.

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