How Coats uses the Higg FEM to measure environmental performance, engage suppliers, and advance circularity across global operations.
Coats® (LSE: COA) is a world-leading Tier 2 manufacturer and trusted partner for the apparel and footwear industries.
The company delivers essential materials, components, and software solutions that help its customers grow, compete, and win. Present in more than 50 countries and with a complex global supply chain, Coats has embedded sustainability into its business strategy — recognizing that consistent measurement and collaboration are essential to reducing environmental impacts and supporting long-term growth. Details in this case study are derived from Coats’ 2025 Sustainability Report and a Cascale “Source of Good” podcast interview with Chris Dearing, vice president of sustainability.
“The Higg FEM gives us a consistent, externally validated format for communicating environmental performance at facility level, providing greater transparency and credibility for the brands and Tier 1 customers we supply,” Dearing said.
Early in Coats’ decarbonization journey, the company made meaningful progress through energy efficiency improvements — optimizing boiler operations, reducing heat loss, optimizing compressed air systems, and tightening energy management across its global manufacturing network. Over time, however, Coats’ internal sustainability data showed that Scope 1 and 2 emissions were beginning to plateau. The efficiency gains that had supported the company’s early progress were no longer enough to sustain momentum toward its science-based targets.
Analysis from Coats’ in-house sustainability platform, which manages data from more than 60 business units, helped the company identify where progress had slowed and where more structural interventions were required. These included onsite solar generation, renewable electricity sourcing, and fuel-switching projects designed to reduce reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources.
Building on this internal analysis, the Higg FEM, which is governed by Cascale and delivered through Worldly’s global technology platform, provided Coats with a recognized and externally validated framework for communicating facility-level performance consistently to brands and Tier 1 customers. This strengthened transparency, comparability and confidence in the company’s environmental performance.
The results were significant. By 2025, Coats had reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by more than 50 percent from a 2019 baseline — a direct outcome of using consistent data to guide strategic decision-making.
As Dearing explained, “The Higg FEM gave us a consistent way to measure environmental performance across our sites. Once we had that foundation, we could start engaging suppliers using the same framework.”
As Coats strengthened environmental performance within its own operations, the company recognized that achieving its longer-term climate ambitions would require the same rigor further up the value chain — where a significant proportion of environmental impacts occur.
Coats expanded Higg FEM to strategic suppliers, giving both Coats and its suppliers a shared methodology for measuring facility-level environmental performance. The initiative supports Coats’ Supplier Decarbonisation Programme by helping suppliers understand their own emissions profiles, establish carbon inventories, and identify practical reduction opportunities. With a common framework in place, conversations between Coats and its suppliers can focus on improvement rather than on reconciling different measurement approaches.
This collaborative approach reflects a broader shift in how Coats approaches sustainability — from measuring direct operational impacts to driving improvements throughout the value chain.
Coats is also applying sustainability principles to product innovation, with circularity becoming an increasingly important focus.
The company has developed sewing threads containing recycled content and has launched its T2T Epic™ and T2T Gramax™ 100% recycled polyester threads, made from post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste to support textile-to-textile circularity. Rather than viewing recycled materials as a niche offering, Coats is working to incorporate circular principles into product development across multiple business segments.
Following its acquisition of Texon and Rhenoflex, Coats has expanded these efforts into structural footwear components and premium accessories.
Coats has also developed Rhenoprint™ RP Flow and RP Wave toe-box components, incorporating recycled content and more circular manufacturing approaches. Used in footwear applications such as toe puffs and heel counters, the product demonstrates how circular design principles can be applied to components that have traditionally relied on virgin materials — supporting customers’ own sustainability objectives while reducing waste across the value chain.
Coats’ experience illustrates how standardized environmental data creates a foundation for sustained progress — moving from early efficiency gains to structural decarbonization, and from internal performance improvement to supply chain engagement.
By using Higg FEM across its own operations and extending it to strategic suppliers, Coats has built a common language for sustainability performance that supports continuous improvement, strengthens supplier relationships, and enables more credible progress toward its SBTi-validated near-term and net-zero targets.
Listen: Why Sustainability Is a Supply Chain Story with Coats
Hear Chris Dearing discuss Coats’ sustainability journey — from measurement to decarbonization to circularity — on Cascale’s Source of Good podcast.
How Lenzing uses sustainability data to strengthen environmental performance, support ESRS reporting, and advance supply chain transparency.
As demand for transparent, lower-impact textile supply chains continues to grow, manufacturers are expected to provide increasingly detailed environmental data alongside high-performance materials.
Lenzing (VIE: LNZ) is a publicly traded global producer of wood-based specialty fibers – including TENCEL™, LENZING™ ECOVERO™ and VEOCEL™ – that has long prioritized sustainability as a core business strategy rather than a standalone initiative. As Thomas Matiz, product sustainability manager at Lenzing Group, explained on a Cascale “Source of Good” podcast episode, standardized sustainability data helps the company collaborate more effectively with customers while demonstrating environmental performance across its operations.
Lenzing’s Annual and Sustainability Report 2025 was prepared in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), in preparation for reporting obligations under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and in line with Austria’s Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (NaDiVeG). Within that report, Lenzing formally discloses its Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) target and environmental performance across all production sites, demonstrating how standardized environmental data supports both regulatory reporting and customer transparency.
Lenzing combines responsible raw material sourcing, low-carbon manufacturing, digital traceability, and standardized environmental measurement to help customers meet evolving regulatory and market expectations. The company’s 2025 sustainability report aligns with ESRS requirements, strengthening transparency while providing investors, customers, and other stakeholders with consistent environmental information.
Global apparel brands increasingly require suppliers to provide credible, verified environmental data alongside high-performance materials. At the same time, new sustainability reporting requirements, including ESRS under the CSRD, raise expectations for companies to disclose standardized environmental information supported by robust governance and consistent methodologies.
For manufacturers operating multiple production facilities, collecting comparable environmental data while driving continuous improvement requires a common framework that supports operational management, customer reporting, and regulatory compliance.
Lenzing has long depended on the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM), which is stewarded and governed by Cascale and implemented globally through the Worldly sustainability and supply chain intelligence platform, to monitor, track, and manage environmental performance across its manufacturing operations.
Through the tool, Lenzing is able to monitor environmental performance, reduce environmental risks, and identify opportunities to improve operational performance across production sites.
Lenzing formally discloses a continuous target to periodically update the Higg FEM across all nine pulp and fiber production sites. During 2025, the company completed both annual Higg FEM self-assessments and third-party verification at production sites, keeping the target on track.
The company also identifies customer expectations as an important driver of adoption. As Lenzing notes in its 2025 Sustainability Report, growing use of standardized environmental methodologies across the textile value chain has led many customers to request implementation of the Higg FEM and verified supplier environmental data.
“Reformation is known to provide sustainable clothing [and] they want to know where the products and the materials they use for the products come from…and how they are processed,” Thomas Matiz, product sustainability manager at Lenzing Group, explained on a Cascale “Source of Good” podcast episode. “By having this holistic perspective on the value chain and product creation, the basis was therefore for a good collaboration.”
Lenzing’s integrated approach to environmental measurement and transparent reporting helps customers better understand manufacturing performance while supporting continuous improvement across its global operations.
Key outcomes include:
Together, these efforts demonstrate how standardized environmental measurement can strengthen operational performance, meet evolving regulatory requirements, and provide customers with trusted sustainability data that supports more informed sourcing decisions.
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How Dunelm uses Higg Index data to reduce supply chain emissions, engage suppliers, and advance circular product design.
Furniture has traditionally been difficult to repair or recycle, with many products ending up in landfills at the end of their useful life.
For Dunelm, a publicly-traded company that is one of the UK’s largest home furnishings retailers, that industry reality sat at the heart of a more specific business challenge. Sourcing and manufacturing account for approximately 60 percent of the company’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions — and without consistent, comparable data across a growing supplier base – it is difficult to know where to act first.
In response, Dunelm developed its Good & Circular approach to sustainability — a commitment to rethinking how products are designed, sourced, used, and recovered. Central to that strategy is a data-driven approach to supplier engagement: rather than relying on spend-based emissions estimates, Dunelm adopted Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) through its Better Manufacturing program to build a credible, comparable picture of environmental performance across its supply chain. In this case study, we go deeper on how Dunelm used circular design, supplier collaboration, and Higg Index data to reduce environmental impact and create products that last longer.
Dunelm launched its Better Manufacturing program in FY24, adopting the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) as the shared measurement framework across its Tier 1 supplier base. Part of the Higg Index — a suite of frameworks and methodologies stewarded and governed by Cascale and delivered globally through Worldly’s technology platform — the Higg FEM enables suppliers to assess, track, and improve performance across key environmental areas, including energy, water, waste, and carbon.
Rather than developing a proprietary assessment system, Dunelm chose an industry-standard tool — one that suppliers could share with other brands, reducing duplication and lowering the barrier to adoption.
As Lisa Ly, senior sustainability manager at Dunelm, explained on Cascale’s Source of Good podcast: “For our suppliers, having one tool that can be shared among other brands and retailers is a huge benefit. Before we even started, we did a bit of a survey to figure out how many of our suppliers were already using it, and it was like 15 percent of our Tier 1. So that gave us confidence.”
In FY25, Dunelm extended Higg FEM to its own UK made-to-measure manufacturing sites — enabling the company to identify operational hotspots firsthand and share best practice solutions directly with its supplier base. To further support supplier capability, Dunelm hosted an in-depth renewable energy webinar in partnership with climate consultancy South Pole, covering renewable electricity market trends, green tariffs, on-site options, and PPAs. The company also launched a quarterly supplier newsletter and engaged specialist partner Verisio to strengthen Tier 2 visibility through Worldly’s Facility Data Manager (FDM).
In FY25, Dunelm achieved 84 percent Tier 1 supplier completion of the Higg FEM self-assessment — reaching its target a month ahead of schedule, despite its supplier base growing 6.4 percent year-on-year.
Improved data quality is now enabling a transition away from spend-based Scope 3 estimates toward primary facility-level data, giving commercial teams greater visibility to make more responsible sourcing decisions. Scope 3 emissions increased just 1 percent against 4 percent sales growth in FY25 — an early signal of progress on decarbonization relative to business growth.
Looking ahead, Dunelm is actively encouraging suppliers to develop decarbonization roadmaps supported by Higg FEM data and ongoing training through its dedicated supplier platform.
Beyond measurement, Dunelm is applying sustainability principles to product design — recognizing that reducing environmental impact requires thinking about the full product lifecycle, not just manufacturing emissions.
One example is the Full Circle Sofa, introduced in 2024. Developed collaboratively with suppliers, its modular design allows customers to replace individual sections rather than the entire sofa. A staple and glue-free frame makes components significantly easier to separate and recycle at end of life — directly addressing one of the most persistent barriers to furniture recyclability.
Dunelm’s rug takeback program accepts rugs from any brand for cleaning, repair, and refurbishment before donating them through charitable partners. Community repair workshops further encourage consumers to extend product life rather than replace items prematurely.
Together, these initiatives reflect Dunelm’s Good & Circular approach to sustainability — a commitment to rethinking how products are designed, sourced, used, and recovered.
Dunelm’s experience shows how a shared, industry-aligned measurement framework can accelerate supplier engagement, improve data quality, and support more responsible sourcing decisions — at scale and ahead of target.
By choosing Higg FEM over a proprietary system, Dunelm reduced adoption barriers, leveraged existing supplier familiarity with the tool, and created a common language for continuous improvement across its value chain. As Dunelm continues to build on this foundation — extending measurement into its own operations, deepening Tier 2 engagement, and embedding circularity into product design — the Better Manufacturing program provides a credible, data-driven platform for meeting its SBTi-validated targets: a 50 percent absolute GHG reduction by FY30 and net zero by FY40.
When Komar set its first Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validated near-term target in 2023, the company used a 2019 baseline. But target-setting was only the beginning.
As Komar’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Dr. Thiwanka De Fonseka, explained in a recent “Source of Good” podcast episode, as the company expanded its sustainability strategy, leadership recognized that stronger climate commitments would require stronger data. Improving the quality, accuracy, and coverage of emissions data across the value chain became a strategic priority – particularly for Scope 3 emissions, which represent the vast majority of the apparel sector’s climate impact.
To build that foundation, Komar turned to industry-aligned tools, including the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM), which is stewarded and governed by Cascale and implemented globally through the Worldly sustainability and supply chain intelligence platform.
The result: a stronger emissions data foundation, greater visibility into supply chain impacts, and newly validated SBTi near-term, long-term, and net-zero targets from a 2024 baseline year.
For many apparel brands, Scope 3 emissions remain one of the most difficult areas to measure accurately. Estimates often rely on secondary data and generalized emissions factors that provide only a partial picture of value-chain impacts. Komar sought a different approach.
Under the company’s “Planet” strategic pillar, which is one of the two main pillars of its holistic sustainability strategy, “Sus-Tex 2030”, the Higg FEM became a key tool for collecting facility-level environmental data across its supply chain. This includes information related to energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, wastewater management, waste generation, and chemical management.
Beginning in 2024, Komar expanded supplier participation in the Higg FEM and integrated the resulting facility-level insights into its broader climate strategy. At the same time, the company adopted Worldly’s Product Impact Calculator to improve the measurement of Scope 3 Category 1 emissions, which account for more than 70 percent of Komar’s total greenhouse gas footprint.
Together, the Higg FEM and Worldly’s Product Impact Calculator (PIC) enabled Komar to move beyond estimated emissions calculations and incorporate increasingly robust primary data from suppliers, materials, and manufacturing operations.
“One of our first tasks was to create a proper strategy and then identify credible tools to collect the data needed to monitor progress,” De Fonseka said. “If you have a strategy without credible data, there’s nothing you can do.”
To support its climate and environmental goals, Komar launched a comprehensive supplier engagement program centered on the Higg FEM. The company began by mandating participation in the Higg FEM for its strategic suppliers in 2023, then expanded the requirement across its T1 and T2 suppliers in 2024 as a “mandatory” requirement.
As reported in the Komar 2025 Sustainability Progress Report, published in 2025 (based on 2024 calendar year data):
Importantly, Komar did not approach completion of the Higg FEM as a compliance exercise. Recognizing that many facilities lack dedicated sustainability teams, the company developed customized training programs, practical toolkits, and supplier support resources designed to help facilities use their own data to identify hotspots, establish baselines, develop action plans, and drive continuous improvement. “We consider the Higg FEM to be an improvement tool rather than a data collection tool or audit tool,” said De Fonseka.
As supplier engagement increased, environmental performance improved. Average Higg FEM scores rose from the 40-point range to the 60-point range, reflecting stronger environmental management systems and greater understanding of sustainability performance across the supply chain.
As Komar’s data quality improved, the company undertook a comprehensive review of its climate targets. Informed by Higg FEM and Worldly PIC data, Komar established a new set of science-based targets, with 2024 as the baseline year.
The updated targets reflect improvements in data quality, emissions accounting methodologies, and value-chain coverage, creating a stronger and more accurate foundation for long-term climate action.
Komar’s newly approved SBTi commitments include:
For Komar, the approval of these targets represents more than a climate milestone. It demonstrates how credible, primary supply chain data can strengthen corporate climate strategies and support more ambitious decarbonization pathways.
Komar views target validation as a starting point, not the finish line. “Setting emissions reduction targets is often one of the easiest steps in an organization’s decarbonization journey,” says De Fonseka. “The greater challenge lies in implementing the meaningful actions, investments, and transformational initiatives required to achieve those targets.”
The company is currently finalizing its Climate Transition Plan and 2025 Sustainability Annual Report, which will outline the actions being taken to achieve its approved science-based targets.
As a privately held company, Komar is not required to publicly disclose this information. However, consistent with its commitment to transparency and continuous improvement, the company has chosen to share its progress publicly. Komar is demonstrating how better data can enable more credible climate commitments and help turn net-zero ambition into measurable action.
Scaling textile-to-textile recycling requires overcoming persistent barriers related to fiber quality, feedstock consistency, and commercial adoption. As expectations around sustainability performance continue to rise, companies are also under increasing pressure to deliver circular solutions backed by credible, measurable impact.
A Cascale Corporate member since 2020, Recover recognized that advancing circularity would require material innovation supported by trusted data, consistent measurement, and collaboration across the value chain. By combining fiber innovation with industry-aligned tools such as the Higg Index, Recover is working to scale recycled cotton while strengthening its ability to measure and benchmark performance over time.
“Scaling circularity requires more than innovation in materials alone,” said Orsolya Janossy, senior sustainability manager, Recover. “It depends on combining technical solutions with credible measurement, strong partnerships, and the systems that enable progress at scale. Using frameworks like the Higg Index alongside collaboration across the value chain helps us turn circularity from ambition into action.”
To achieve this goal, Recover developed a mechanical recycling process that transforms post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste into recycled cotton fiber for use in new products, most notably apparel, accessories, and home textiles. Its approach combines three reinforcing strategies.
Recover’s recycling process is designed to help preserve fiber quality and performance, supporting the integration of recycled cotton into commercial applications. Through its work with brands and value chain partners, Recover is helping demonstrate how circular materials can move from innovation to market-ready products at scale.
Recover views supporting policy, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), as critical to building the infrastructure needed to scale circularity. Stronger collection systems, more reliable feedstock supply, and investment in recycling capacity can help create the conditions needed for recycled materials to become more widely available and commercially viable.
Recover uses the Higg Index as part of its approach to measuring and improving social and environmental sustainability performance across its facilities. Through the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) and Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM), Recover applies a structured assessment framework to identify gaps, prioritize actions, and track progress year over year.
Using the Higg Facility Tools also gives Recover a consistent way to measure sustainability performance across its operations and value chain. This common methodology supports more reliable data, clearer internal and external reporting, and more meaningful benchmarking against industry peers.
For Recover, verified Higg Index assessments also support stronger customer relationships. By using a framework recognized by major global brands, Recover can help reduce duplicative audits, lower the overall audit burden, and build trust with partners through greater transparency and shared sustainability goals.
Recover also uses the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI), helping integrate recycled materials into product-level impact assessment.
By integrating the Higg Index into its operations, Recover has strengthened its ability to measure, benchmark, and improve performance over time. From 2024 to 2025, Recover reported improvements across both Higg FSLM and Higg FEM assessments across its three production hubs* reflecting:
* Aggregate averages were calculated across the three hubs; only Bangladesh data is externally verified, while the remaining facilities conducted self-assessments.
Recover seeks to demonstrate the viability of textile-to-textile recycled cotton as a solution that can help reduce waste and support lower-impact material inputs. Consistent measurement helps Recover benchmark performance, plan for continuous improvement, and strengthen credibility with customers and partners.
Its collaboration with Primark, also a Cascale Corporate member, was highlighted in Cascale’s “Source of Good” podcast and shows how brand partnerships can help move circular materials into commercial products and support shared solutions at scale.
Recover’s use of the Higg Index also demonstrates how a common measurement foundation can support more consistent insights, reduce duplication, and enable more confident decision-making. As circularity moves from ambition to implementation, this combination of innovation, benchmarking, and collaboration can help accelerate progress across the apparel and textile value chain.
Cascale shared MCAP and Higg FEM learnings at The Komar Supplier Sustainability Forum.
The Komar Supplier Sustainability Forum recently convened 70 participants from across the consumer goods industry in China. Cascale’s speakers included Nicole Lee-Kauer, manager, Manufacturer Climate Action Program (MCAP); and Peony Tam, manager, Global Membership Development APAC.
Key Takeaways
With a global reach of 250 Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, Komar has made public decarbonization commitments, including to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 27.5 percent by 2030. In a dedicated decarbonization session, Cascale’s Lee-Kauer shared the importance of MCAP to help Komar’s Chinese suppliers get started in their decarbonization journey.
Lee-Kauer and Tam were joined by Tiffany Leung, customer success associate – Hong Kong at Worldly, and together they encouraged suppliers to transform data from the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM), delivered through Worldly’s global technology platform, into business value, while empowering them to take greater ownership for their sustainability performance. The session highlighted useful resources like the Higg Index Learning Center, an open resource that shares practical guidance and operational examples for utilizing the tool. Rather than a tick-box exercise or response to brand-driven demand, suppliers were encouraged to understand that accurate data can support their own operational improvement and long-term business value.
The session also highlighted ongoing confusion. In a quick poll, the majority of attendees were unclear about the shared relationship between Worldly and Cascale. The speakers clarified their complementary roles within the ecosystem: The Higg Index frameworks, modules, and methodologies are stewarded and governed by Cascale and implemented globally through the Worldly sustainability and supply chain intelligence platform.
In the presentation, Lee-Kauer and Tam emphasized that Cascale offers both a like-minded and committed sustainability community and mutual support network for manufacturers. They highlighted the scale and relevance of Cascale as a community, showcasing a breadth of brand and manufacturer members.
New report shows Cascale’s Higg FEM verification program delivers credible environmental performance data to inform decision making across global consumer goods supply chains.
Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) – April 23, 2026: Cascale today released its Higg FEM Verification 2025 Annual Report, demonstrating progress in delivering consistent, comparable, and credible environmental performance data to help inform decision making across global consumer goods supply chains.
The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) is a core component of the Higg Index, which is stewarded and governed by Cascale and accessible through Worldly, the sustainability and supply chain intelligence platform. Verification is a critical component of the Higg FEM system. It improves the accuracy of assessments, reduces variability in how assessments are applied, and enables more consistent interpretation of results across facilities and regions.
As adoption of Higg FEM continues to scale across the consumer goods industry, data verification is increasingly important to help brands and manufacturers make more informed decisions. Cascale continues to evaluate and evolve the verification program to ensure it delivers value, supports increasing expectations on data quality, and enables more reliable performance tracking. In 2025, Cascale prioritized stabilizing operations, strengthening quality assurance systems, and reinforcing integrity mechanisms following the rollout of Higg FEM 4.0.
“Verification is fundamental to ensuring sustainability data can be trusted and used to drive meaningful decisions,” said Dhawall Mane, director of verification, training & insights at Cascale. “In 2025, we focused on strengthening the systems, processes, and oversight that underpin the Higg FEM verification program. These improvements deliver more consistent, reliable data at scale, supporting greater transparency and accountability across global supply chains.”
The report details significant advancements supported by enhanced quality assurance controls, introduced on the Worldly platform in 2025, which strengthened both error prevention and real-time issue detection. Strengthened monitoring infrastructure, paired with greater stakeholder engagement through integrity reporting channels, supported the timely identification and resolution of issues throughout the year. Protecting the credibility of the verification system remains a foundational priority.
Operational enhancements in 2025 included clearer verification requirements, expanded calibration support, improved data correction processes, and strengthened categorization standards. Together, these efforts are helping reduce variability and improve consistency across verification outcomes.
Cascale also advanced several initiatives to ensure evolution of the verification program remains fit for purpose, including introducing a multi-phase initiative to better align verification timing with how data is generated and used, as well as pausing expansion of verification of Level 2 and 3 questions in order to ensure the quality and practicality of the program by focusing on Level 1 questions. As the verification program continues to scale, Cascale remains committed to strengthening governance, enhancing transparency, and supporting stakeholders across the value chain.
Cascale members are invited to learn more and dive deeper into key report insights by registering for an exclusive member-only webinar on May 6.
Media Contact: Forster Communications, cascaleforster@forster.co.uk
This new report shows Cascale’s Higg FEM verification program delivers credible environmental performance data to inform decision making across global consumer goods supply chains.
Like many brands, EILEEN FISHER operates within a complex supply chain while also managing environmental and social impacts at the corporate level. As a New York State Public Benefit Corporation and certified B Corp, the company aims to hold itself accountable through clear goals, consistent measurement, and transparent reporting. To do that, EILEEN FISHER needs:
To support these objectives, EILEEN FISHER uses standardized, industry-aligned measurement tools to evaluate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance across its business and supply chain. As a long-standing Cascale member, EILEEN FISHER relies on the Higg Index frameworks, modules, and methodologies – which are stewarded and governed by Cascale and implemented globally through the Worldly technology platform – to support consistent, credible sustainability measurement.
The company publicly discloses verified results from the Higg Brand & Retail Module (Higg BRM) in its annual Benefit Corporation Reports and aligns broader social and environmental oversight with shared industry tools such as the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM) and the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM). For this case study, EILEEN FISHER provided Higg FSLM and Higg FEM insights.
The Higg BRM provides a structured framework that enables EILEEN FISHER to evaluate governance systems, environmental management, supply chain insight, and social impact using standardized criteria aligned with industry peers. By completing the Higg BRM annually, EILEEN FISHER establishes a recurring benchmark that informs internal decision-making, supports strategic prioritization, and enables public reporting backed by verified data.
According to its 2024 Benefit Corporation Report, EILEEN FISHER reported its verified Higg BRM score increased from 45.2 percent in 2022 to 52.7 percent in 2023 and 56.6 percent in 2024, representing a cumulative 11.4 percent increase year over year. The company attributed this improvement to:
This year-over-year score increase demonstrates how standardized, data-driven frameworks guide measurable performance improvements. By disclosing verified Higg BRM results alongside its B Impact Assessment, EILEEN FISHER reinforces transparency and demonstrates alignment between industry-specific sustainability metrics and broader ESG governance standards.
To complement brand-level governance measurement, EILEEN FISHER uses the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM) to evaluate working conditions across its supplier facilities. The company has demonstrated significant progress in adopting and verifying Higg FSLM assessments across its supply chain by rapidly scaling adoption of Higg FSLM self-assessments from 2020-2022.
EILEEN FISHER now maintains an 80-90 percent adoption rate for verified T1 suppliers and 20 percent adoption rate for verified T2 suppliers, with plans to scale further. Their progress includes both the Higg FSLM and Better Work in Vietnam and Indonesia, which aligns with the Higg FSLM via the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP).
Approximately 80 percent of the assessments originate from five key countries – China, the United States, Peru, and Turkey – with China among the highest-adopted sourcing nations, and the apparel, accessories, and footwear sector remains at the forefront of the Higg FSLM adoption within the company’s supply chain.
These results reflect a structured approach to strengthen social and labor performance, expanding verified data across sourcing regions, and deepening supplier engagement over time. By embedding Higg FSLM assessments into supplier engagement, EILEEN FISHER enhances transparency, reduces duplicative audits, and supports measurable improvements in working conditions.
Advancing Environmental Performance Through Higg FEM
EILEEN FISHER also utilizes the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) to track environmental performance at the facility level. The tool plays an important role in informing the company’s Scope 3 inventory and broader decarbonization strategy. As of 2024, 88 percent of product (by volume) is made by Tier 1 facilities completing the Higg FEM and 55.5 percent of product (by volume) is made by Tier 2 facilities completing the Higg FEM.
These facilities provide verified environmental data that informs the company’s carbon footprint calculations and strengthens supplier engagement. By leveraging Higg FEM insights, EILEEN FISHER advances foundational environmental performance, supports science-aligned decarbonization efforts, and enhances data-driven decision-making across its value chain.
Why This Matters
EILEEN FISHER’s approach illustrates how standardized, industry-aligned tools enable sustainability to move from commitment to measurable action. By using the Higg Index:
This reflects Cascale’s mission to deliver credible tools built on strong frameworks and methodologies, as well as aligned standards and strong governance systems that enable collective progress across climate and decent work priorities.
By integrating brand-level and facility-level measurement into corporate oversight and supplier engagement, EILEEN FISHER demonstrates how social and environmental sustainability performance can be embedded into governance — advancing transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement across the value chain.
Cascale’s State of the Industry 2026 report shares new analysis of verified facility data, shows emissions rising as coal dependence and limited renewable energy adoption slow progress.
Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) – January 28, 2026: Cascale today released the State of the Industry 2026: Decarbonization Progress in the Apparel, Footwear & Textiles Industry report, finding the sector is not decarbonizing at the pace or scale required to meet global climate targets. The report analyzes verified 2023 and 2024 energy data from the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM), with a focus on Tier 1 finished product manufacturing and Tier 2 material manufacturing. Using Cascale’s new Effective Energy Carbon Intensity (EECI) metric, the analysis assesses how effectively the industry is decarbonizing energy use, which remains the dominant source of Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
“This report makes clear that there are no shortcuts to decarbonization,” said Jeremy Lardeau, Senior Vice President, Higg Index at Cascale. “Real progress depends on true value chain collaboration, not sourcing shifts by the brands. The level of investment required to achieve the deep decarbonization measures at facility level means brands will have to step up in a meaningful way. The climate agenda must be seen as an imperative to change the legacy sourcing dynamics of this industry.”
Key Findings
The findings align with broader global assessments, including recent analysis from the United Nations Environment Programme, which underscores that current policies remain insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C.
Cascale’s report cautions against relocating production based on country averages and emphasizes long-term, collaborative engagement with manufacturers, particularly in Tier 2; to achieve this, supply chain engagement is essential. On March 4 , Cascale will host a member-only webinar that includes a deep dive into the report and a discussion on how EECI can be used by organizations to analyze their supply chains; Cascale members can register on Cascale Connect.
Cascale will publish this State of the Industry report annually to track progress and support collective action. The organization will continue expanding access to data and analytics for members and advancing programs such as the Manufacturer Climate Action Program to support science-aligned targets and measurable emissions reductions.
