fashion: Why businesses need to take more responsibility for the practices within their supply chains

Why businesses need to take more responsibility for the practices within their supply chains

SDG12: Sustainable Consumption and Production aims to reduce resource use, pollution and environmental degradation throughout the entire lifecycle of a product, whilst also improving the quality of life of everyone in the supply chain, from the producer through to the consumer.

The fashion industry has a long way to go to meet this goal in a mere 10 years’ time, as we have learned throughout this course. In the aftermath of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, it became clear that there were two fundamental, interconnected issues at play: a clear lack of supply chain visibility and the passing off of responsibility for human rights abuses and environmental degradation resulting from the production of our clothes. Concrete, immediate measures were needed to prevent a disaster of this scale from occurring again. Some, but not all, brands acknowledged their responsibility and took action to remediate, many of them did this by engaging with the Bangladesh Accord and Alliance on building and fire safety and, over the past seven years, we have seen a gradual increase in their supply chain disclosure but significant improvements still need to be made in the conditions for the people who make our clothes.

But there are still too many major fashion brands not taking responsibility for what happens in their supply chains. Some argue that they have little control over what happens in the facilities they work with, because they do not own them, but this is no longer an acceptable excuse.

Why fashion brands need greater transparency

Visibility equals control; you can only monitor what you can measure. Supply chain visibility is essential for a brand’s risk-management and crucial for protecting their reputation, yet so many brands are failing to take even basic steps towards transparency.

Not enough has changed and change is not happening fast enough. Brands have started to adopt some measures of responsibility, but this often extends only to their owned or direct suppliers, where the final stages of clothing production typically occurs. Beyond this, the picture is much more murky, and it is at the lower levels of the supply chain, where fibres are produced and fabrics are created, as well as with subcontractors and the informal sector, where we know exploitation of people and natural resources is much more likely to occur.

Businesses need to put their policies into practice

It is not enough for brands simply to put policies in place to prevent the mistreatment of workers or the destruction of the environment; they need to do far more to ensure that they have adequate procedures in place so that their policies are put into practice at their supplier facilities, with their subcontractors, and beyond to processing facilities and raw material suppliers.

Businesses needs to define, measure and report on quantifiable goals for progress

If we want to see sustainable production become a tool to raise workers out of poverty and protect the environment, brands and retailers must set quantifiable goals and measure and monitor their impacts throughout their supply chain. The SDGs provide a focus that enables brands to show real progress and leadership, but unfortunately too many fashion brands and retailers still concentrate more on the disparate charitable causes they support, rather than setting targets that could drive real, sustainable change for the people, communities and environment affected by the production of their clothing.

Business should collaborate with civil society groups

Brands and retailers also need to engage with NGOs, trade unions, multi-stakeholder initiatives and sign up to industry pledges and commitments around workers’ rights, safe working conditions, living wages, the circular economy, toxic chemicals and the responsible management of resources. Sharing data about suppliers and information about challenges and failures, as well as successes, means that joint learnings can be achieved, uncertainties eliminated and best practice can be leveraged. Engagement in these initiatives helps brands compare their behaviour to that of their peers which, in turn, helps to drive progress. It creates better training and capacity building programmes, which helps their suppliers buy into progress towards these goals. Working together through industry collaboration to really gain an in-depth understanding of the issues and potential solutions and addressing the root cause of human rights and environmental abuses is the only way to foster real progress which will lead to systemic change.

SDG 12 represents an exciting possibility for fashion brands to use their significant power and influence to boldly transform their business practices, to create new industry models, to overhaul the way in which they do business and to create a fashion industry fit for the future which is based on a more equitable sharing of resources with the communities around the world who make our clothes.