If Fashion Wants Sustainable Supply Chains, Here’s the One Thing it Should do
Inequalities in textile and apparel supply chains are holding our industry back.
We must continue to work toward the ideal that everyone at every stage of the value chain should be treated and paid fairly to create a more just and resilient industry. With the increasing volatility of the 21st century, readdressing the power balance in our supply chains is essential to strengthening and future-proofing them.
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Unlocking more equitable supply chains
We need more equitable apparel supply chains to enable a fairer and stronger industry where everyone is treated with respect and dignity. For this, responsible purchasing practices are key. Without them, suppliers are left in precarious financial positions which can translate into poor wages and working conditions for those on the factory floor.
Brands and retailers that take a responsible approach and offer suppliers robust and fair contracts help ensure proper staffing and fair pay for workers. They allow factory owners to focus on improving working conditions and even upskilling their workforce with training. This also allows factories greater scope to focus on their environmental commitments. Such supply chains are stronger and more likely to cope with unexpected events and challenges. It benefits everyone.
However, we are still not seeing fast enough action on an industry-wide scale. At the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), we want to ensure our brand and retailer members have the tools needed to nurture responsible partnerships with their suppliers. This is why we have done significant work in this area with the latest update to our Higg Brand and Retail Module (BRM) tool—a framework for apparel brands and retailers to evaluate, report on and improve Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance across their global value chains.
Rebalancing relationships
Buyer-supplier relationships have traditionally been unbalanced, weighted towards global brands and retailers. Responsible purchasing practices should now be guided by principles that prioritize the needs of all actors in the supply chain. Ensuring manufacturers are empowered is key to rebalancing relationships.
It’s also vital that brands and retailers offer suppliers a higher level of transparency. As things stand, they often don’t provide insights into their purchasing processes. For factory owners, it can feel opaque, exacerbating the unequal relationship dynamic.
The latest version of the Higg BRM incorporates recommendations from the STTI White Paper on the Definition and Application of Commercial Compliance. By working directly with STTI, a collaborative initiative between 13 manufacturing associations from the largest apparel-producing countries, we were able to ensure manufacturer perspectives were included.
The Higg BRM also provides manufacturers with the opportunity to demand that brands openly communicate the details of their purchasing practices. For example, a manufacturer can gain greater clarity on its brand partner’s payment terms—covering key topics like compensation for overdue payments, whether penalties are applied for late deliveries, and what exit strategies are in place for terminating the relationship. Such knowledge will allow for greater transparency in supply chains, driving greater trust, and addressing systemic power imbalances.
At the same time, brands can ask these manufacturers and facility partners to share their environmental and social impacts through other Higg modules.
A standardized approach
To level up our global supply chains, we need a standardized approach to responsible purchasing practices. If all brands and retailers adhered to the same principles, we could have strong, balanced partnerships across the value chain. It’s how we can ensure better wages and conditions for the people making our clothes around the world—and create a more just industry.
The update of the responsible purchasing practices section in the BRM is inspired by the Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices—which we see as a reference point for the industry. The result of more than 1.5 years of work between multi-stakeholder initiatives and other international expert organizations, and including a major part of STTI’s white paper, it sets out five base principles. During the completion of the BRM update, we worked with experts from fellow nonprofit Fair Wear, who chaired the framework’s working group, because we wanted the spirit of its five principles to run through the Higg BRM’s questionnaire.
A complex challenge
In the context of vast supply chains that crisscross continents, the challenge of upgrading to a more responsible purchasing approach might seem complex and considerable. But in a changing world, it’s crucial we fortify our value chains. The way forward for fashion brands and suppliers to adhere to responsible purchasing practices is through commitment and accountability—adopting transparency mechanisms and creating equal partnership through the entire value chain.
We need the entire industry to work together towards fair, balanced and transparent supply chains. Both brands and manufacturers must work openly and in partnership to drive progress on fundamental social and labor challenges and create an industry where everyone is respected.
Maravillas Rodriguez Zarco is the senior director, Higg Index strategy and operations, at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC). She ensures that the Higg Index tool strategy and tool development roadmap are aligned with SAC’s overall impact strategy and priorities, and that the different tool development roadmaps are integrated with each other and with other external programs. She also coordinates the Higg Index team’s internal operations to ensure the effective delivery of objectives across the different Higg Index teams. Prior to her time at SAC, she served for 10 years as the CSR & sustainability manager at Desigual, where she managed key projects aimed at minimizing the company’s environmental impact, while promoting ethical trading and human rights. She holds a degree in Biology from University of Seville and a Masters in Environmental Impact Assessment from University of Barcelona.
