Luxury Sector becoming less opaque

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London until 

1 September 2019.
  Designs by current Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri .

Photo by Lucia Carpio.

Luxury brands Gucci and Bottega Veneta are the highest scoring luxury brands reviewed  by Fashion Revolution’s Fashion Transparency Index 2019 to have made the 31-40% range of scores, and have achieved 100% on policy and commitments and governance. Chanel’s score increased by 7%, Sandro and s. Oliver by 9% and Christian Dior by almost 22%, demonstrating that for the first time ever, several major fashion brands are beginning to disclose supply chain information. Chanel also published its first ever Report to Society and s. Oliver launched a responsibility section on its website for the first time.

Only five brands (2.5% of the brands reviewed) scored zero this year, compared with nine brands (6%) last year. These are Eli Tahari, Jessica Simpson, Mexx, Tom Ford and Chinese menswear brand Youngor.  Another 10 brands are disclosing almost nothing (less than 2%), including Longchamp, Max Mara, New Yorker and several others.

“There is still a lot of work to be done”, Sarah Ditty, Policy Director and report author, cautioned, “detailed information about the outcomes and impacts of their efforts is still lacking. The average score among the biggest fashion brands and retailers is just 21%, showing that there are still far too many big brands lagging behind. Major brands are disclosing very little information and data about their purchasing practices, which means that we still don’t have visibility into what brands are doing to be responsible business partners to their suppliers.”

Fashion Revolution believes that the major fashion brands have the moral imperative and ability to effect change on a global scale for large numbers of people. Brands will also need to innovate, use fewer resources and help their customers consume less, take better care of their clothes and use them for longer if we are to tackle the climate crisis..

"To help drive this change, each year we explore a few key issues in deeper detail. This year we have  chosen 4 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are particularly relevant and urgent for the global fashion industry to achieve by 2030 as this year’s Spotlight Issues:  SDG5: Gender Equality, SDG 8: Decent Work, SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production and SDG 13: Climate Action.

Sarah Ditty concluded: “We will continue to use the Index to measure brands’ progress and help push them harder and faster towards taking on more responsibility for their policies, practices and impacts.”

Sustainability is today a buzzword in the global apparel industry; Fashion Revolution Week 2019 (22-28 April)

News that more and more global fashion brands and retailers are striving to tackle sustainability continue to emerge as we enter Fashion Revolution Week 2019 (22-28 April) which promotes greater transparency in the fashion supply chain.

London-based eco-footwear brand
Po-Zu  uses sustainable materials.
On Monday 29th April, Po-Zu founder, 
Sven Segal  will be speaking on the 
Nature Of Fashion panel, one of many events 
organised by Know The Origin for their 
Fashion Revolution 2019 pop-up shop. 
Photo by Lucia Carpio.

For one, US-based jeans brand Wrangler, owned by the VF Corp, has launched a new Made-in-USA denim collection that supports five US cotton-growing states – and takes the brand towards 100% sustainable cotton adoption by 2025.

Elsewhere, US retailer Walmart is teaming up with international bank HSBC to roll out a sustainable supply chain finance programme that pegs a supplier's financing rate to its sustainability performance.   Under the new scheme, suppliers that demonstrate progress on Walmart's Gigaton or Sustainability Index Program can apply for improved financing from HSBC based on their sustainability ratings.

Meanwhile German sportswear giant Adidas has launched a 100% recyclable performance running shoe called the Futurecraft.Loop, which is made without glue and from materials that can be broken down and reused to create a brand new running shoe.

And a company that produces sustainable textile fibres made from waste materials has raised EUR3.7m (US$4.2m) in funding from investors, including global fashion retailer H&M, to scale up production at its plant in Finland.