News Updates / Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Worldly Share Higg FEM 4.0 Webpage Ahead of Launch

Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Worldly Share Higg FEM 4.0 Webpage Ahead of Launch

Higg FEM
Higg Index Tools

September 21, 2023

The SAC is excited to launch the Higg FEM 4.0 in November, providing a transformative shift in sustainability reporting for manufacturing facilities, brands and retailers. This dynamic tool has the potential to significantly change how and why decisions are made within the industry, and we want to make sure you have everything you need ahead of November’s launch. In partnership with Worldly, the SAC is excited to share a dedicated Higg FEM 4.0 webpage to bring you all the latest resources, key dates and updated information —all in one place.

Higg FEM 4.0: Major Updates
Updating Higg FEM 4.0 was a highly collaborative effort among SAC members. Over the past two years, we’ve worked with over 100 members to collect feedback on tool framework, scoring methodology and content. Insights from key Member Engagement Teams and the Strategic Council helped us to identify gaps in regulations, industry standards and needs, and incorporate member insights in order to significantly evolve the tool.

We view Higg FEM 4.0 as a gamechanger — here’s why:

Reduction of third-party assessments: through a single shared facility assessment tool, Higg FEM 4.0 is designed to reduce facility third-party assessments.
Better data quality: the Higg FEM 4.0 incorporates years of feedback, providing more detailed and more relevant data. The changes within the Higg FEM 4.0 tool were made as a direct result from member and user requests for more precise and accurate information, and we’re excited that the tool includes a new anomaly detector, designed to identify errors in real time.
Alignment with global industry standards: Higg FEM 4.0 aligns with key industry standards, including the GHG Protocol, Science-Based Targets initiative, and ZDHC Roadmap to Zero.
Expansion of environmental issues: the update covers more relevant environmental impacts — such as groundwater contamination — to ensure the tool reflects key impact areas businesses need to evaluate and addresses current challenges.
Improved assessment relevance: through improved applicability criteria, users will now only see questions relevant to their specific operations, so they can spend less time on assessment questions that are irrelevant to them.
Significant platform feature improvements: in addition to the new anomaly detector, Higg FEM 4.0 also offers easier access to guidance, optimized data exports, and an expanded online training library.

How to Prepare for Higg FEM 4.0
To help users prepare for Higg FEM 4.0, we’re thrilled to introduce a consolidated webpage where manufacturers, brands and supply chain partners can access important resources and critical information. In partnership with Worldly, we’ve developed a Higg FEM 4.0 webpage as a one-stop resource for all Higg FEM 4.0 announcements and training materials.

Visit https://go.worldly.io/learn-about-higg-fem-4.0 to learn more about the Higg FEM 4.0 update and explore need-to-know information ahead of the launch in November.

Key webpage features include:

Training materials: access key training resources, including the How to Higg Guide (2023) and the Higg FEM 4.0 Technical Paper.
Summary of benefits: learn more about how the Higg FEM 4.0 update is beneficial to you and to the industry as a whole.
Preparation information: benefit from tips and insights on how you can prepare your company and your supply chain to complete the assessment.
Important Dates: stay updated with the latest webinars, office hours, and learning opportunities leading up to November.

With in-depth training and content tailored to best prepare you ahead of time, the SAC and Worldly are prepared to help you navigate all changes, big and small. We’re excited to launch a tool that will better shape how decisions are made within each facility, and also drive the industry forward as a whole. Together, we’re not just meeting sustainability standards; we’re setting them.

WHO WE ARE:

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide nonprofit alliance whose collective action efforts lead the consumer goods industry toward a more equitable and restorative future. The SAC owns and develops the Higg Index, a suite of tools that provides a standardized framework for organizations to assess sustainability impact throughout the product life cycle. Over the past decade, the SAC has focused on building and evolving the methodologies of the Higg Index using the latest scientific research, in collaboration with SAC members, consultants, stakeholders, industry experts, and ecosystem partners, such as Worldly. To learn more about the Higg Index, visit https://cascale.org/the-higg-index/.

Worldly is the planet’s most comprehensive impact intelligence platform, trusted by 40,000+ major brands, retailers, and manufacturers in fashion, outdoor, home goods, toys, and more. Worldly uniquely collects high-resolution primary data specific to companies’ value chains, operations, and products, providing insight into true impacts across carbon, water, chemistry, and labor. Featuring the most comprehensive source of ESG data for global manufacturers and the largest library of materials and product impacts, Worldly empowers businesses to scale responsibility into their global operations, faster and more accurately. Hosting, connecting with, and supporting the leading industry solutions and methodologies including ZDHC, Bluesign, and the Higg Index – the most widely-adopted measure of sustainability in the apparel industry – Worldly delivers the insights businesses need to reduce their impact, comply with emerging regulatory and financial disclosure requirements, and meet the expectations of a new generation of customers. www.worldly.io

News Updates / FashionUnited Lends Support to Upcoming SAC Trainings on Higg FEM and Setting SBTs

FashionUnited Lends Support to Upcoming SAC Trainings on Higg FEM and Setting SBTs

Training
Higg FEM
Higg Index Tools

June 07, 2023

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) today announces a media partnership with FashionUnited, the world’s largest business-to-business cross media fashion platform for fashion professionals and companies. This collaboration will see both organizations working in close partnership in the development and promotion of content highlighting the SAC’s initiatives and efforts to engage with stakeholders in the textile and apparel industry to drive positive change.

As part of this partnership, FashionUnited is partnering with the SAC on two upcoming training sessions, the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) 4.0 Training and Science-Based Target (SBT) Training, both of which will be hosted on June 14 in Milan, Italy, following on from Planet Textiles on June 12-13.

Ahead of the launch of the updated Higg FEM 4.0 and following the recent launch of the SAC’s Decarbonization Program, the trainings will provide opportunities for business professionals from across the value chain to participate in a set of in-person trainings to optimize their knowledge on using the facility-dedicated tool and how to set and implement science-based targets.

Sponsored by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Fabric Asia, the trainings will be led by SAC’s Angela Ng, Director of Facility Tools; Joyce Tsoi, Director of Collective Action Programs; Yasotharan Manivel, Manager of Collective Action Programs; and Executive Director of The Circular Institute, Michael Sadowski.

Blogs / Using the Higg Index to Trace Environmental Impact Results as We Drive Towards More Sustainable Textile Production

Using the Higg Index to Trace Environmental Impact Results as We Drive Towards More Sustainable Textile Production

Higg FSLM
Higg FEM

Gemma Verhoeven

March 10, 2023

Current fashion supply chains are highly polluting and wasteful, making the fashion industry one of the most unsustainable industries. In order to measure and quantify the sustainability impacts of a manufacturing facility, the SAC’s Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) is a valuable tool. The Higg FEM offers standardized measurements for sustainability and helps manufacturers, brands, and retailers identify and prioritize opportunities for performance improvements through the use of a common language.

However, acting on the data can sometimes be a financial challenge for manufacturers. Although sustainable technology solutions exist today, manufacturers often lack the knowledge or capital to invest in such machinery to improve their production processes. The Good Fashion Fund (GFF), a first-of-its-kind initiative by Laudes Foundation, was established to create systemic change in the textile and apparel industry by encouraging mainstream uptake of impactful and disruptive production technologies. The fund provides long-term USD loans to apparel and textile manufacturers in India and Bangladesh to enable them to implement innovative and sustainable technologies.

The first loan by the GFF was made to Pratibha Syntex in 2021. By the first monitoring visit in November 2022, the impact results surpassed the targets of a minimum of 50% savings. At the end of 2022, another loan was signed with Progress Apparels in Dhaka, and the GFF expects to close three more loans—one in Bangladesh and two in India—by the end of the quarter. The investments are diverse and relate to the enhancement of effluent treatment plants, the adaptation of state-of-the-art spinning and weaving equipment, the installation or replacement of washing unit equipment, and the expansion of unique waste-to-yarn recycling facilities.

The technology we finance relates primarily to equipment for dyeing, washing, printing, and wastewater treatment and reduces the use of hazardous chemicals, water, or energy in the production process. Every GFF investment should lead to a minimum of 50% reduction in consumption of one of our three environmental goods: Good Energy, Good Water, or Good Materials (incl. chemicals).

The GFF is unique in its focus on sustainable and ethical fashion and we’re proud to be the first financial investor to join the SAC’s global membership, utilizing the Higg FEM as a key part of our environmental due diligence process. The Higg FEM measures the exact environmental impacts of a facility’s operations that we aim to improve, such as water use, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, and chemical management. It aligns perfectly with the GFF’s objectives.

In particular, the Higg FEM assesses a facility’s overall Environmental Management Systems and specifically gathers data on energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, wastewater, air emissions, waste management, and chemical management. The score not only reflects absolute levels but particularly focuses on encouraging improvements and setting baseline levels and targets.

Having a verified Higg FEM score allows us at the GFF to limit our environmental due diligence efforts to desktop research and interviews conducted by our advisors Sphera and TUV Rheinland. When a facility is new to the Higg Index, our due diligence is more extensive and includes a site visit, but, ultimately, the manufacturers and operators in which we invest must receive a verified Higg FEM score. This allows the company to create value from the exercise and publicly communicate the results.

It is a complex analysis and will require continuous development. We are confident the SAC will maintain and leverage its close partnership with its member retailers, brands, manufacturers, and other stakeholders to continue improving and increase levels of adoption.

Moreover, the GFF uses the Higg FEM score, not only for the initial investment decision but also to better monitor continuous performance over the lifetime of our partnership with the manufacturer. As the Higg Index becomes more widely recognized and adopted, we will be able to more effectively communicate the sustainability performance of the portfolio companies to our investors. More importantly, it will help the manufacturers communicate their improved sustainability performance to consumers. The investments funded by the GFF typically improve a facility’s Higg FEM score substantially.

Our partner at TUV Rheinland, Rakesh Vazirani, Global Head of Sustainability Services, Consumer Products, noted: “Every facility we encounter for environmental due diligence is eager to make improvements to positively impact its environmental performance KPIs/metrics to showcase its progress, to explore cost savings, to highlight its uniqueness to customers, and to prepare for future regulation. Relying on existing industry frameworks like Higg FEM allowed facilities’ performance to be measured based on a harmonized framework; and GFF’s approach to fund improvements to make an impact fit into the wider mission of factories, local governments, and brands. We look forward to the continuous evolution of the Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) framework to add efficiency to the process, and further alignment with European Green Finance taxonomy.“

Of course, the assessment and improvement of working conditions and labour rights are equally important aspects of the GGF’s objectives. Currently, the social due diligence is being performed by Fairwear Foundation, and important topics such as labor policies, health and safety conditions, workers committees, adequate administration and execution of contracts, salary management and working hours, grievance mechanisms, and anti-discrimination policies are being reviewed on site. In one of the more recent transactions, for the first time, the social due diligence included assessing the company’s verified scores of the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (FSLM). Given social audits are at least as intensive for a company to accommodate as the environmental due diligence, we are exploring the possibilities of the Higg FSLM verification as more brands and manufacturers adopt the standard.

The GFF is dedicated to creating systemic change in the fashion industry, not only by the direct impact of its investments but also by sharing experiences and lessons learned widely. We aim to create partnerships with other actors in the fashion industry and financial sector, drive awareness of opportunities for sustainable technologies, and catalyze finance. GFF will continue to report on its investee companies extensively, encouraging further use of standardized measurements including the Higg FEM and Higg FSLM scores.

Publications / Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) 4.0 Technical Paper

Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) 4.0 Technical Paper

Higg FEM

The purpose of this Technical Paper is for Higg FEM users to start understanding and preparing for the next version of the Higg FEM (“Higg FEM 4.0”), which will officially be released on the Higg platform in November 2023. Facilities will start reporting their 2023 performance using the FEM 4.0 framework.

Download publication

higg-fem-4-technical-paper-cover-publication

December 12, 2022

Success Stories / Hirdaramani

Hirdaramani

Manufacturers
Higg FEM

Read how this global leader in sustainable apparel explains how the Higg Index is helping to drive change.

Hirdaramani Knit - Agalawatte, Sri Lanka (Rooftop Solar Installation)

August 20, 2020

“Climate change is the most pressing challenge that the industry, country, and the world face. The Higg Index scores and improvement areas have helped guide our management to pinpoint facilities requiring increased investment and focused attention.”

— Demith Gooneratne, [Former] Environmental Sustainability Manager at Hirdaramani Exports International Ltd

Headquartered in Kahathuduwa, Hirdaramani Exports International Ltd. is a leading sustainable apparel manufacturer that operates 20 facilities across Sri Lanka. Demonstrating its commitment to combatting climate change, the company achieved carbon-neutral status at its Mihila Factory in 2018, marking a significant milestone for Asia. Hirdaramani also harnesses the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) to evaluate and enhance its environmental performance in critical areas including energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and waste management.

By using the Higg Index to pinpoint environmental hotspots, the Hirdaramani sustainability team. Has implemented energy and emissions reduction initiatives such as implementing energy-efficient LED lighting, installing skylights, and developing worker awareness programs, and have made substantial progress in achieving their 2020 goals. The company partnered with a Sri Lankan renewable energy firm to install more than 21,000 solar PV panels on eight of its facilities, contributing significantly to reducing carbon emissions and lessening the need for cooling facilities. Hirdaramani’s commitment to sustainability not only aligns with global climate goals but also enhances business value, reducing operational costs, decreasing fossil fuel dependency, and strengthening partnerships with value chain collaborators. Their journey continues as they work towards a greener, more sustainable future with improved Higg Index scores and a reduced environmental footprint.

Learn more about the Higg Facility tools Read more about Hirdaramani's sustainability strategy

Success Stories / Salomon

Salomon

Brands & Retailers
Higg FEM

Learn how this European outdoor brand uses the Higg Index to foster transparency and collaboration with value chain partners.

Aerial photo of a road winding through a green forest

August 20, 2020

“The key to sustainability is transparency. That’s what we like about using the Higg Index tools. We hope that as an industry, we can move towards the same goal because the consumer at the end wants information that is true. If everyone doesn’t use the same tool, we won’t be able to achieve that”

— Celine Mazars, Senior Materials Manager, at Salomon

With a deep love for the outdoors and a strong sense of community, French sportswear brand Salomon called on the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) to assess the environmental performance of manufacturing footwear, the company’s largest product category, and integrate sustainability into operations across their supply chain. Approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative in 2022 of a 2019 baseline, Salomon’s goals include 50 percent absolute reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for scopes 1 and 2 and a 30 percent absolute reduction for scope 3 by 2030.

Salomon works closely with Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers, including fabric mills, dye houses, and outsole manufacturers, to implement sustainability best practices and further transparency. This collaborative approach not only improved communication with suppliers but also served to engage them in partnership, paving the way for lasting change in the industry. Within the first three years of adoption, all of Salomon’s Tier 1 finished goods manufacturers in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, and India now leverage the Higg FEM to measure and enhance their operations.

The company takes a unique and playful approach to sustainability through its Play Minded Program, making social responsibility accessible to employees and value chain partners, and strives to inspire their community to responsibly connect with nature – inspiring individuals to become agents of positive change. believes in a common language for consumers to make informed purchasing decisions and envisions a future where the entire industry adopts the Higg Index for trustworthy sustainability information.

Amer Sports, Salomon’s parent company, is also a Cascale member and represents numerous international sporting goods brands, like Arc’teryx and Wilson.

Learn more about Higg Facility Tools View Salomon's Responsible Commitments

Success Stories / Avery Dennison RBIS

Avery Dennison RBIS

Manufacturers
Higg FEM

Read how this global materials science company sets the standard high, with cutting-edge adhesive technologies and materials that inspire packaging trends across industries and around the world.

August 26, 2016

“We strive to be a force for good that creates long-term value for all of our stakeholders, which means innovating and operating in ways that have a positive impact on people and the planet. The Higg Index suite of tools is critical to setting targets and achieving our sustainability goals.”

— Helen Sahi, Director of Sustainability, at Avery Dennison

Avery Dennison is at the forefront of sustainability and innovation in the packaging industry, but a primary challenge is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address waste generation and disposal. The company’s SAC membership and use of the Higg Index have been instrumental in addressing these sustainability challenges by setting ambitious goals: A 3 percent annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that achieves a 26 percent reduction by 2025, and reusing, repurposing, or recycling at minimum 75 percent of waste to become landfill-free that same year.

To achieve these goals, Avery Dennison is investing in efficient and renewable energy sources and materials and seeking innovative partnerships across the supply chain to drive improvements in energy efficiency and waste reduction. A true partner, the company participated in SAC working groups, contributed to the development of the Higg Index, validated their scores through the Verification Pilot, and used the Higg FEM to reduce audit fatigue.

By deploying a system of wireless energy meters to obtain real-time facilities consumption data in order to make data-driven decisions, Avery Dennison achieved a more than 10 percent energy reduction at pilot sites. They are now implementing this approach at their largest manufacturing site in China, where the program will drive progress toward the company’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. As a Cascale member, Avery Dennison continues to collaborate, share knowledge, and work collectively to drive broader systemic change across the industry, ultimately creating a more sustainable and environmentally responsible future.