News Updates / Cascale, Worldly Convene Executive Dinner at Climate Week NYC

Cascale, Worldly Convene Executive Dinner at Climate Week NYC

Industry Event
Leadership

The organizations co-hosted an intimate evening amid Climate Week NYC to spotlight sustainability ambitions.

Cascale joined the global climate community in New York for Climate Week NYC, attending member events and activations throughout the week and co-hosting an executive dinner with Worldly, the compliance and sustainability platform, on Tuesday, September 22.

Across the Week

Cascale maintained a visible presence throughout Climate Week NYC. Team members attended events hosted by members including Nike, Levi’s, Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), and Apparel Impact Institute (Aii), as well as broader programming at the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Media Zone.

On site, Cascale’s CEO Ying McGuire; Howard Kwong, senior manager, public affairs, APAC; Ashley Buchalter, manager, global membership development, Americas; and Kaley Roshitsh, editorial director, represented the organization. Kwong also took part in the week as a Richard Rockefeller Fellow at Columbia Global, representing Cascale’s public affairs team.

One Word for the Future

Cascale and Worldly convened 24 guests and team members, predominantly Cascale members, to continue the dialogue that began at the Cascale Annual Meeting in Athens, Greece earlier in the month. The evening also marked a unified presence for Cascale and Worldly during one of the year’s premier climate gatherings.

Cascale CEO Ying McGuire opened the evening. “This week is super busy for all of you. There are 1,500 events and you chose us tonight. I feel so special you chose Cascale and Worldly.” She then challenged the room to name their hopes for the future of sustainability.

The relaxed dinner setting encouraged candid conversation, and attendees remarked on the importance of gatherings that get the right people in the room. Members also expressed interest in Cascale’s system map, content opportunities, and the “Source of Good” podcast as ways to share their work especially as 2030 commitments are around the corner.

Themes From the Week

Several themes emerged across the week. Attendees discussed the challenge of mobilizing teams beyond sustainability, such as sourcing, compliance and operations, to act on the work that moves progress forward.

Growing consumer expectations and shifting regulations also came into play. At a Nike event, the future of sport was questioned amid the threat of a changing climate. At a separate circularity event with Pact Collective, Credo Beauty, Pentatonic, and Ulta Beauty, panelists discussed the importance of collective action in facilitating data-driven consumer takeback schemes.

Manufacturers, meanwhile, emphasized the value of bringing their expertise into the global conversation and of showing up together at major international forums. At the U.N. SDG Media Zone, fashion diplomacy (or the use of fashion as political communications) was presented as a way to promote change and rehumanize design for makers and manufacturers.

Across the week’s festivities, industry attendees noted the need for a clearer proofcase on how sustainability ambitions drive business improvements.

Blogs / One Hundred Days in: A Reflection to the Cascale Community

One Hundred Days in: A Reflection to the Cascale Community

Leadership

Cascale CEO Ying McGuire reflects on her first 100 days.

Cascale team on stage at the Cascale Annual Meeting 2026

Ying McGuire

October 02, 2026

If I had to choose today, I would join Cascale again — more certain now than I was on day one.

The first 100 days were less glamorous than LinkedIn posts can make them look: financial stewardship, board governance, sharper priorities for the second half of the year, facing long-standing issues directly, listening hard, and engaging system thinkers to understand where Cascale can contribute most. In those early days, I also joined C-suite leaders at Stanford who are wrestling with the same challenge: how to turn ambition into action.

Then came the two weeks that closed the chapter: my first Cascale Annual Meeting, with 600 of you in Athens and online, confronting a question that does not flinch:

Value Chain Transformation: Who Pays, Who Profits, and What Changes?

And then New York Climate Week. My highlight there was a small dinner with members and partners, in a room quiet enough for people to say what was really on their minds. That, to me, is where progress begins: in honest rooms, well before polished statements or perfect alignment.

I have carried a tension since I was a 15-year-old, long before I knew I would lead an organization built to address it. This industry has enormous power to lift families out of poverty. And, if we are not careful, it can leave real costs behind — in the water, the air, and the health of the people who make what the rest of us wear and use every day.

I grew up watching both in one small textile town in China. Factories arrived with jobs. Electric light replaced oil lamps. My father could finally afford a new shirt instead of patching the old one yet again.

Then, slowly, the river changed color. The sky grew heavy with smog. My parents coughed through winters that did not use to make people cough.

I was a teenager holding both truths at once: industry as opportunity, and industry as responsibility. I have never stopped holding both.

That is why, in Athens, I opened with that story instead of a strategy deck — you’re welcome. It is the most honest answer to why I am here.

Over the past 100 days, I have listened — to the team, to members, to partners, to allies and to skeptics alike. Nearly 150 conversations across the value chain, often anchored in the same three questions:

What is working?
What is getting in the way?
If you had a magic wand, what would you change?

Your answers were clear.

You value Cascale’s convening power: a community that spans the value chain, connected by the Higg Index, shared data powered by Worldly, and relationships built over more than 15 years.

None of this starts from zero. Coming out of tech — not exactly an industry known for handing out compliments freely — I am in awe of what already exists here: 15 years of Higg Index data, a technology layer built by Worldly, and shared infrastructure at a scale few industries have managed to build. Inside that system sit numbers that should stop us in our tracks:

200 million metric tons of carbon emissions — 2.8 times Greece’s annual total.
3.5 trillion liters of water — enough drinking water for nearly two billion people for a year.
14 million livelihoods.

Behind those numbers sits an enormous responsibility.

As I said in Athens, and again in New York: a thermometer can tell you that you have a fever, but it cannot cure you. For 15 years, this industry has built one of the most important thermometers it has ever had. Now our job is to help turn measurement into treatment: insight into collective action, and collective action into results.

You also told me, clearly, what needs to change:

Too much fragmentation — too many players, projects, and parallel efforts.
Too much data without enough action.
Manufacturer voices still not heard strongly enough.
Cascale and Worldly roles need to be clearer.
Members need a sharper value proposition they can explain internally — including to their CFOs.

Manufacturers asked us to treat them as partners, and to do more than measure them. Brands and retailers asked for data they can trust, and for help acting on it together.

Some of this is needed now: clearer strategy, clearer value, clearer roles, and practical improvements members can feel. Some of it takes longer: less fragmentation, data turned into decisions, a big tent, manufacturers at the table, and collective action that changes outcomes.

I heard you, and the short-term work is not waiting on the long-term answer. Here is what you asked for, what we are doing this quarter, and where it leads. The full Q4 calendar is on Cascale Connect.

Member Ask	Short-Term Action (Q4 2026)	Long-Term Direction
A value proposition I can explain internally, including to my CFO	Business value of sustainability for each member type. A clear guide to what members can expect from Cascale membership. Monthly policy monitoring across the EU, U.S., and APAC, and policy deep dives on trade (October webinar) and energy (November).	A clear and enhanced value proposition from the 2030 strategy; Higg Index data mapped more clearly to CSRD and other regulatory frameworks
Clearer Cascale and Worldly roles	A clear division: Cascale convenes members and stewards the methodology; Worldly delivers the platform.	Cascale investing in turning measurement into shared insight and collective action
Data turned into action	New Peer Action Groups turning Higg FEM data into practical action. The Higg BRM 2025 Benchmark and the Member Analytics Portal, with new FEP, and GHG dashboards. Climate Partnership (October) and biomass (November) peer exchanges, and the quarterly Climate Action and Decent Work Communities of Practice.	Data into decisions, and collective action that changes outcomes
Manufacturer voices heard	A revamped governance approach through the Technical Advisory Council (TAC), the Membership & Stakeholder Advisory Council (MAC), and task forces including Higg FSLM CAF 2.0 Scoring. The Better Buying Snapshot Survey opens in October, giving manufacturers an anonymous way to rate the purchasing practices of the brands they work with.	Manufacturers at the table as partners
Less fragmentation	Deciding where Cascale leads, where it convenes, and where it steps back, as part of the 2030 strategy now in development.	Fewer parallel initiatives, and more problems solved together through programmatic partnerships
A pathway for small and mid-sized members	Smaller brands and retailers get a baseline from the Higg BRM, benchmarked against peers. The new ESG Improvement Program pilot takes small cohorts through focused sprints to close foundational gaps, each ending in a concrete deliverable. The FEP Module, the Foundational Environmental Performance question set drawn from Higg FEM, gives smaller factories a simpler way in (Ask Me Anything: FEP, October).	Clear segmented services by membership type; the next EIP cohort enrolled

The Higg FEM remains the backbone of how this industry measures facility environmental performance, and the Higg FEM 2026 cadence goes live this quarter. The FEP Module builds on it, using Higg FEM questions, as another way in for smaller factories or factories new to this journey.

On roles, Cascale convenes members and builds the foundation: the methodology, shaped with members, of what is worth measuring and why. Worldly turns that into software members use at scale. What we have not invested in enough — and what 15 years of data now makes possible — is the third piece: turning measurement into shared insight and collective action. That is where Cascale is putting renewed focus.

December brings the longer answer. The system map we began in Athens will become a 10-year vision, a 2030 strategy, and 2027 priorities. When you see it, I hope you will recognize what you told us.

That value has to be earned. There is trust to rebuild. There are manufacturers who still do not feel fully heard. There are brands waiting for clearer value. There is an industry asking us to help run fewer parallel initiatives and solve more problems together. That is a fair challenge.

I cannot promise perfection. I cannot promise we will do everything everyone asks. But I can promise this:

We will keep listening, especially when it is uncomfortable.

We will be clear about where Cascale leads, where Cascale convenes, and where Cascale should step back.

And we will measure ourselves by what changes on the ground.

Here is the challenge in front of us: to turn the largest shared sustainability and risk intelligence this industry has built into collective action — data into decisions, ambition into results — for a resilient supply chain, a livable planet, and decent work for the hands that make it possible.

As Goethe wrote:

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

That is the work ahead. And we are just getting started.

Blogs / Why Should My Company Join Cascale, and What’s Coming Next?

Why Should My Company Join Cascale, and What’s Coming Next?

Leadership
Membership

Cascale’s Jeremy Lardeau takes an honest look at what Corporate membership delivers — and how the value is sharpening under CEO Ying McGuire.

Jeremy Lardeau on stage at the Cascale Annual Meeting 2025

I’ve now spent five months in a new seat at Cascale, leading industry activation and growth — the team responsible for how we define and deliver value to you as members.

In this post I want to clearly articulate what Corporate membership is actually worth now that Higg Index access is decoupled from Cascale membership, and why its value is differentiated.

Reflections on My First Few Months

Most of my time so far has gone into considering one question: what does Cascale membership actually get you, and is that clear enough? That question sits at the center of everything we do as a membership organization including how we approach our relationship with Worldly, the membership changes we rolled out this year, and how we’re working with our new chief executive officer to sharpen where Cascale goes from here.

An Important Reminder: Cascale and Worldly are Not the Same Organization

This still trips people up, so I think it’s worth restating here. Cascale is a global nonprofit industry alliance: we govern and steward the frameworks and methodologies behind the Higg Index. We convene brands, retailers, manufacturers, and other stakeholders in a pre-competitive space, and turn that alignment and community into collective action at scale. Worldly is a technology company that exclusively delivers data and insights through the Higg Index tools — the platform you log into to actually collect and manage data. Worldly enables measurement; Cascale enables alignment, improvement, advocacy, and collective progress. We work in close partnership, and increasingly you may hold a relationship with each of us separately — but we are not the same purchase, and one is not a subset of the other.

An Honest Look at Our Value Proposition

Until May 1 of this year, there was one Cascale membership, and it came with Worldly platform access bundled in — a single line item that covered both the tool and everything Cascale did on top of it. On May 1, we split that into two distinct membership types: Associate, conferred when you purchase a Worldly plan, and Corporate, a separate commitment with its own dues. Higg Index access now comes directly through Worldly; Cascale membership stands on its own.

For a lot of you, the immediate experience of that change was subtraction: something that used to arrive as part of one membership now shows up as two separate decisions, and in some cases two separate invoices. That’s a legitimate reason to ask what Corporate dues specifically buy you that a Worldly plan doesn’t. So here’s the concrete answer.

Associate membership is the measurement door: it comes with a Worldly plan and gives you credible, comparable data for reporting, benchmarking, and decision making. Corporate membership is a different kind of thing entirely: the improvement and influence door, built around what a data platform isn’t built to deliver. Cascale’s global peer and expert community often means it’s your first call when you’re confronted with a sustainability challenge. Before you launch an initiative or build a new approach from scratch, it’s where you can see what the industry has already developed or aligned on. Corporate membership breaks down into three areas, which we are actively reinforcing with increasing member opportunities and content:

1. Sustainability Performance Acceleration — turning measurement into meaningful improvement. Companies come to Cascale to solve the challenges they cannot solve alone, for one of two reasons. Either they lack a capability and need to learn it, and the fastest, lowest-cost way to acquire it is from peers who have already solved it. Or the challenge is systemic — no single company can shift it — and progress requires collective action. In practice, here’s what it means, with some concrete example outcomes for our members:

Industry intelligence like the Higg Brand & Retail Module (BRM) Benchmark and upcoming Foundational Environmental Performance (FEP) Dashboard in September 2026;
Curated resources through our Decarbonization and Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) Knowledge Hubs on Cascale Connect;
Expert guidance through your Member Account Manager, live Office Hours and Ask Me Anything sessions with our experts;
- As referenced in this Case Study, La Vie en Rose acknowledged technical guidance from Cascale (including a report on forest, land, and agriculture (FLAG) impacts). With 1:1 Cascale support, the company was able to resolve a critical FLAG emissions calculation mid-validation within a 30-day window — clearing their path to SBTi approval.
Trainings like the ESG Improvement Program and RPP Learning Series;
- Featured in a recent Source of Good episode, Hanesbrands celebrated development of the “To the Finish Line” program, training thousands of Vietnamese facilities and now expanding to Cambodia.
Communities of Practice such as the Climate Partnership Peer Exchange;
- Kiabi was facing one of their hardest decarbonization challenges: Tier 2 suppliers switching coal boilers to biomass, a riskier and more complex fuel than it first appeared. Kiabi turned to Cascale rather than go it alone. Three member-led peer exchanges (44 participants, including Patagonia and Gap) gave Kiabi a pre-competitive space to sharpen its energy policy and a peer-validated reference for supplier engagement, while its input surfaced a Higg FEM emission-factor gap now being fixed through GHG Protocol alignment.
Collective programs like the Manufacturer Climate Action Program.
- Through the Manufacturer Climate Action Program (MCAP), member brands were able to converge their supplier engagement programs under one roof to reduce duplication for manufacturers and achieve scale they couldn’t have reached alone. We are now on a path to validated targets representing 1.6M metric tons of CO2e reduction potential across 19 countries, with sponsor brands including Gap Inc., New Balance, and PUMA.

2. Policy Insights & Advocacy — navigating and shaping an evolving policy landscape. In practice, that’s:

Policy intelligence through our Public Affairs Knowledge Hub and monthly monitoring updates;
- The monthly monitoring updates and deep-dive reports and webinars are how members stay oriented as the terrain moves. Rather than each company tracking dozens of moving regulatory files itself, members receive developments filtered, interpreted, and prioritized on a predictable cadence — what changed, why it matters, and what to do next. Deep dives on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), global water regulation, and the PEFCR go a level beneath the headlines on the regulations most consequential to the industry.
Practical guidance through policy webinars and deep dives;
- Members face a thicket of adopted and emerging regulation across the EU, US, and APAC, impossible to track company-by-company. Cascale’s Global Legislative Overview analyzes and maps 21 laws to exactly where the Higg Index already strengthens compliance, so members navigate change with confidence and see where their existing Higg Index data supports their compliance work rather than starting from scratch.
Stakeholder engagement through regulatory roundtables and consultations; and
Coordinated advocacy through member-informed position papers.
- Cascale convenes the Membership & Stakeholder Advisory Council which draws leaders from brands, retailers, and manufacturers to define policy priorities and steer advocacy. On US priorities, we work closely with groups like the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) to carry member positions into the channels where they land. Manufacturer voice is explicit globally. Manufacturers help shape strategy during pivotal legislative cycles across a number of initiatives. One example is how Cascale member GG International contributed to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Policy Member Expert Team (MET).

3. Industry Influence & Representation — a hand on the frameworks that will shape your business. We help members shape the future of the industry through governance participation, structured feedback, and collaboration to develop shared priorities, methodologies, and industry approaches that reduce duplication and accelerate progress. For manufacturers notably, this provides a voice in a system historically dominated by brands. In practice, that’s:

Governance participation through the Board, Advisory Councils, and Task Forces;
- In a press release, Sapphire Textile Mills’ Iqra Asghar, lead sustainability programmes and strategy, said: “From a manufacturer perspective, it’s critical that sustainability methodologies work where data is collected and improvements are delivered, on the ground. The Technical Advisory Council (TAC) provides an opportunity to bring manufacturing perspectives into strategic conversations, helping ensure that tools are technically sound, fair, and capable of driving meaningful progress across the full value chain.”
Structured member voice through surveys, check-ins, and caucuses;
- In a recent Source of Good episode, Amanthi Perera, head of sustainable business at MAS Holdings credited Cascale’s convening with shifting the brand–manufacturer power balance. “The face-to-face discussions have enabled a balance of power between brands and manufacturers — opening honest conversations which were previously hidden under that massive power imbalance.”
Collaborative industry development work like the FEP and The Industry We Want.
- In 2024, Cascale and 13 cotton programs, many of whom are members, came together to develop a comprehensive cotton lifecycle assessment methodology and pilot framework.

The strongest position for most organizations combines both: a Worldly plan for measurement, Corporate membership for everything above. That’s the case we should have been making clearly from day one, and it’s the one my team is making now.

A word to our manufacturer members, because your question here is a different one. Most of you first met the Higg Index because a customer asked you to, so “what do the dues add on top of the platform” was never quite your question. You want to know whether the number of audits required of you is manageable, whether the frameworks you’re measured against get built with your reality in mind, or without it. And increasingly, you want a seat at the table in shaping regulation. That’s what Corporate membership is for you: not another measurement layer, but a seat where those methodologies are shaped; and, as MAS Holdings and Sapphire put it: “a way to rebalance a conversation that has been brand-led for most of its history”.

Shaping What’s Next, with Ying Now in the Seat

Ying McGuire joined as CEO on June 1, coming from leading the National Minority Supplier Development Council and, before that, senior global supply chain roles at Dell. In the two months since, a lot of my team’s work has shifted into direct partnership with her, holding every part of our value proposition to one test: could a member get this by simply buying a Worldly plan without joining Cascale at all? If the answer is yes, it doesn’t belong in our pitch for dues — full stop. That’s a harder bar than we’ve held ourselves to before, and it’s the one we’re keeping.

Ying has been clear she wants Cascale’s role judged by whether collaboration across the industry becomes more actionable and measurable, not just better articulated. She’ll lay out more of that agenda at the Annual Meeting in Athens this September, and the membership and value proposition work above is being built as a key part of that agenda.

We’re also going back to where this organization’s thinking started. Back in 2010, Cascale’s founders (then the Sustainable Apparel Coalition) worked with the systems-change consultancy Nexial to map out, node by node, how the industry actually moves — how good data feeds decisions, how decisions create business value, and how business value, government regulation, collective action, and consumer choice reinforce each other into real impact. That map held up: it’s a large part of why this organization scaled the way it did over its first decade. We’ve re-engaged Nexial to redraw it for the next one.

The original System Strategy Map, developed with Nexial in 2010, which guided this organization’s first decade-plus of work.

What I’d Ask of You

Any valued membership requires participation. Cascale literally means collective action at scale. So the value you see in membership compounds the more your organization is represented in the room. Bring a colleague into a Community of Practice, put your name forward for a Task Force before the next governance cycle, invite your sourcing team to the Annual Meeting, or ask your membership manager which of this year’s sessions or programs map to the challenge on your desk right now.

There are benefits to sharing Cascale outside your organization as well. Earlier this year, we revealed our first member referral program. That means your organization gets a discount for a successful Corporate referral. Get in touch with your member activation manager for more details.

We know the increasing pressures your organization is up against. But passivity isn’t an option in the mounting environmental and social issues our industry faces. If membership hasn’t fully resonated this year, I’d still rather hear that directly than have you quietly let it lapse, because lapsing isn’t a neutral choice. It means the frameworks you’ll be measured against get built without your input, you go back to tracking regulatory change one file at a time, and you lose the room where a peer has usually already solved the problem in front of you. Tell us where we’re falling short: bring it to your membership manager, raise it through the Member Advisory Committee, or reply to this post.

We changed a lot this year, and we didn’t get all of it right the first time. But the direction is set, the value is real, and it sharpens from here; starting with what Ying lays out in Athens next month at our Annual Meeting. I’d love for you to be there and hear it live.

News Updates / Cascale Opens Board Nominations and MAC Applications for 2026 Governance Cycle

Cascale Opens Board Nominations and MAC Applications for 2026 Governance Cycle

Leadership

Cascale Board and Advisory Group participants strengthen governance first-hand through shared leadership, expertise, and collective ambitions.

Governance At a Glance

Nominate for the Cascale Board of Directors (click here)
Apply for the Membership & Stakeholder Advisory Council (click here)
Why? Shape the future of Cascale and seize one of two distinct opportunities to steward involvement at the highest level of organizational governance.

Cascale has opened two key opportunities for members to help shape the organization’s future: Board of Directors nominations and Membership & Stakeholder Advisory Council (MAC) applications. Together, these openings mark the next phase of Cascale’s governance evolution and reflect the organization’s commitment to stronger, more structured pathways for member and industry expertise to inform leadership, strategy, and collective action.

As a global multi-stakeholder nonprofit, Cascale brings together diverse voices from across the consumer goods value chain to advance shared action on climate and decent work. Strengthening governance is an important part of that work. By inviting members to step forward for Board service and MAC participation, Cascale is reinforcing the role of inclusive leadership, practical expertise, and collaborative decision-making in helping the organization deepen impact further and faster, together.

Board of Directors nominations now open

Cascale is now accepting nominations for its 2026 Board of Directors election from May 11 through May 31, 2026. The Board plays a critical role in guiding Cascale’s strategic direction, overseeing governance, and helping ensure the organization remains strong, representative, and effective. In line with Cascale’s current structure, Voting Members continue to elect Board leadership across caucus groups, ensuring balanced representation across the organization.

Senior leaders with strong strategic, governance, and fiduciary experience are encouraged to consider nomination. Candidates should also be committed to Cascale’s mission and strategic pillars: Combat Climate Change and Support Decent Work for All.

MAC applications now open

At the same time, Cascale is opening applications for the Membership & Stakeholder Advisory Council (MAC) from May 11 through June 4, 2026. The MAC is one of two new advisory councils being established as part of Cascale’s broader governance evolution. Earlier this year, Cascale announced that the MAC would be phased in alongside the Technical Advisory Council (TAC), with the MAC focused on membership engagement, public affairs, and our programs to scale collective action.

The MAC is intended to create a more structured forum for member and stakeholder input, helping ensure Cascale’s work continues to benefit from a wide breadth of experience, perspectives, and practical insights from across the industry. Together with the Board, TAC, and time-bound task forces, the MAC is part of a phased approach to strengthening how recommendations, expertise, and member priorities help inform Cascale’s leadership and long-term direction.

Get involved in Cascale’s next chapter

These two opportunities are distinct, but they are closely connected. Board service offers members the chance to help steward Cascale at the highest level of organizational governance, while the MAC will provide a dedicated pathway for strategic member and stakeholder input on membership engagement, public affairs, and our programs to scale collective action. Together, they reflect Cascale’s belief that stronger governance depends on both accountable leadership and meaningful participation.

Members interested in applying or nominating candidates are encouraged to review the requirements and timelines carefully and submit their materials within the application windows. Cascale will continue sharing governance updates, resources, and next steps through Cascale Connect and its governance communications in the months ahead.

For questions about the Board nominations process, contact elections@cascale.org.

For questions about the MAC applications, contact governance@cascale.org.

Press Releases / Cascale Announces CEO Appointment

Cascale Announces CEO Appointment

Leadership

Cascale announced the appointment of Ying McGuire as Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2026.

Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) – February 10, 2026: Cascale today announced the appointment of Ying McGuire as Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2026.

McGuire brings extensive global leadership experience across supply chains, international business development, and nonprofit transformation. She has led complex, multi-stakeholder organizations through periods of growth and change, building strong partnerships with global brands, manufacturers, policymakers, and civil society to deliver measurable impact.

Most recently, McGuire served as CEO and President of the U.S. National Minority Supplier Development Council, where she strengthened organizational performance, expanded stakeholder engagement, and modernized operations to support long-term mission delivery. Earlier in her career, she held senior leadership roles at Dell Technologies and Technology Integration Group, overseeing global market expansion, strategic partnerships, and supply chain initiatives across multiple regions.

The Board appointed McGuire to lead Cascale at a pivotal moment for the industry, as the organization continues to sharpen its focus on delivering value for members and scaling collective action on climate, decent work, and responsible supply chains. McGuire will prioritize deep engagement with Cascale’s members and strategic stakeholders, operational excellence, and advancing collaborative solutions that translate ambition into practical, measurable progress.

The Board also extends its sincere thanks to Harsh Saini for her leadership as Interim CEO. As a highly respected senior leader with deep connections across the global consumer goods industry, Saini has brought her extensive experience working with brands, manufacturers, and government and trade stakeholders to this role. Under her leadership, Cascale continues to deliver against its priorities, strengthen key partnerships, and advance work to evolve the organization’s operating and membership models. She has provided steady, confident leadership for teams across regions and will continue to serve as Interim CEO through May 31, 2026, supporting a smooth transition as an advisor through the end of June.

On behalf of the Cascale Board, Tamar Hoek, Board Chair, said: “We are delighted to welcome Ying McGuire as Cascale’s next CEO and look forward to working closely with her, our members, and the broader ecosystem to strengthen collective action and advance a more sustainable and resilient global value chain.”

Media Contact: Forster Communications, cascaleforster@forster.co.uk

Blogs / Moonshot Ambitions Meet a Mandate for Change

Moonshot Ambitions Meet a Mandate for Change

Leadership

Harsh Saini, Cascale interim CEO, reflects on 2025 achievements and shortfalls, sets bold agenda for 2026.

The Cascale Board at the Annual Meeting 2025 in Hong Kong

When I reflect on the year 2025 and what’s ahead, I see in Cascale a clear mandate to meet moonshot ambitions with a maturing credibility to counter stagnation.

As our rebrand showcased, Cascale’s new era has evolved with renewed focus that centers impact. But as we know too well, we must bear into account today’s operational realities to evolve with strategic purpose.

Cascale aims to meet these rising demands with a decisive action plan.

Progress Made in 2025

Today, our membership stands at over 300+ organizations across the value chain and globe. Higg Index adoption surpasses 40,000 – with verifications up year-over-year in line with improving standards on data quality.

Under the public affairs team, Cascale has helped members navigate fast-moving regulations in Europe and the APAC region. Using our convening power to align industry positions, we’ve brought supplier perspectives further into the policy discussion. This includes but is not limited to Cascale’s manufacturer dialogues with International Apparel Federation (IAF), the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) recognition of Higg FEM In September, and the educational roadshow for the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) for apparel and footwear.

At the Annual Meeting 2025 in Hong Kong, we brought together 700+ participants globally, with 120+ speakers, 33 sponsors, and 18 exhibitors across six stages. What mattered most wasn’t the scale alone, but the intent: creating space for senior leaders to engage directly with manufacturers and suppliers, and to work through challenges together rather than in parallel.

This built on the momentum from the Cascale Forum in Ho Chi Minh City earlier in the year and sets a strong foundation as we look ahead to the Cascale Forum in Colombo in March 2026. The value of bringing the industry into the room, face to face, is increasingly clear and remains central to how we drive progress.

Since inception, there have been 85 participating manufacturers in the Manufacturer Climate Action Program, with eight sponsoring brands, and 40 targets validated. Along with roadmapping climate hotspots, our team’s expert contributions to a decarbonization playbook have earned praise and inclusion at the year’s main climate event: COP30.

There are countless other wins and inflection points as we strive to deliver on unique member and stakeholder needs.

Yet even amid this progress, we see the industry is losing sight of the urgency needed to deliver on collective goals – like a 45-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and a rallying cry for embedding responsible purchasing into business operations.

An Evolution Imperative

Over the past few months, you may have noticed a clear shift in both our pace and focus. That’s intentional. My mandate from the Board has been to help Cascale move from a period of transition into one of sharper execution and delivery.

What’s been visible externally reflects a year of internal work: leadership changes, strategic refinements, and decisions to strengthen Cascale’s foundations. This includes welcoming Better Buying and the Sustainable Furnishings Council into Cascale, and continuing the work to integrate these capabilities in a way that adds real value for our members.

Upon reflection, perhaps Board chair Tamar Hoek said it best: Cascale thrives in times of change, building an even stronger foundation.

Now, we have to move in even closer alignment. As our industry knows, the sustainability journey is sustained by the long-game not the short-term pivots.

And Operational Reset

When I stepped into the interim CEO role, the Board and I were aligned on a small number of clear priorities. Cascale was at a moment where a reset was needed, and my mandate was to bring greater discipline, clarity, and momentum to how we deliver.

That meant taking an honest look at some of the fundamentals: our finances, how we define and price member value, how we’re organized, how we govern ourselves, and how we manage the dependencies across our ecosystem. We’ve made tangible progress across all of these areas, and we’ll be sharing more detail in the period ahead.

We now have an even stronger foundation than we did six months ago. What this means for you is that by 2026, 2027, 2028, and beyond – Cascale as an organization is set up to deliver more value. What you gain in return is a stronger, more credible, more impactful Cascale that continues to meet evolving expectations – starting with new membership pricing and benefits packages.

Our Moonshot Ambition

Our Cascale community is ready for the next chapter. Stronger tools. Better data. Deeper supply chain reach and nuance. Expanded categories, a more streamlined structure, and the ability to operate at global scale.

This strategy turns this operational reset into a launchpad for industry-level impact.

As the year draws to a close, I want to leave you with one message. One of the industry’s most widely-used impact measurement tools, the Higg Index, was named after the Higgs Boson, a discovery that helped explain how the universe holds together. At its best, the Higg Index plays a similar role for our industry. It provides a shared foundation for understanding impact.

But our ambition goes beyond any single set of tools. Our moonshot is to help unify the industry itself.

That means moving beyond sustainability silos and being more open about both progress and setbacks. It means showing up not just in sustainability reports, but in annual reports, investor conversations, ratings, and indices. In boardrooms and on factory floors, we need to equip ourselves to design the future we’re aiming for.

This is the work ahead of us. Leading with credibility, authority, and a lot of heart.

Warmly,

Harsh

Blogs / What if the Real Leverage Point for Sustainability isn’t the Brand, it’s the Factory?

What if the Real Leverage Point for Sustainability isn’t the Brand, it’s the Factory?

Leadership
Manufacturing
Policy and Legislation

Explore how factory leaders are driving real sustainability progress through data, innovation, and collaboration in Lee Green’s latest blog.

A close-up of a sewist at her sewing machine.

Lee Green

November 24, 2025

Our industry often leads with brand leadership, but the real transformation is happening where few cameras point: the factory floor.

While regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) push companies toward accountability and disclosure, the real test is how those mandates ripple through global supply chains, and how factories respond.

Across sourcing regions like China, and APAC more broadly, a quiet revolution is taking place. In a series of country reports – spanning Bangladesh, Vietnam, and most recently China – we examined the role of factories in ushering in a greener economy. Factories are investing in renewables, adopting circular design principles, and harnessing digital tools to optimize energy and resource use. These are not incremental changes, they’re innovative shifts in mindset. Factories, and the people that empower them, are starting to see sustainability not as a compliance cost, but as a competitive advantage.

Factories, a Data-Rich Story Engine

Factory leaders are proving that innovation and impact can coexist at the very heart of production. In our travelogues among other methods, we’ve documented global real-life examples of this innovation, visiting manufacturers such as Artistic Milliners and Diamond Fabrics (part of the Sapphire Group) — both respective leaders in their field.

This is just scratching the surface.

After more than two decades in communications, one truth stands out: brands cannot lead alone. Systems, standards, and shared metrics matter more than slogans. The real power lies in collective frameworks (the very essence of the Higg Index) that enable transparency, comparability, and trust. They give manufacturers and brands a common language for progress, and a way to prove that progress is real.

And this is where storytelling matters. Because the data tells us what’s changing, but the story tells us why it matters. Translating measurement into meaning is how we move audiences, shift perception, and inspire action. The challenge for communicators today isn’t just to celebrate impact, but to frame it in a way that’s credible, grounded, and human. And in the crosshairs of AI, this couldn’t be more important.

A Collective Role to Play

At Cascale, we’re working to bridge that gap, and this recognition of the manufacturer’s role is the foundation for the upcoming Cascale Forum: Colombo, an event built on collaboration and leadership in driving sustainability progress: connecting measurement with meaning, ensuring that data becomes a catalyst for transformation, not just a line in a report. Because when manufacturers lead and brands listen, the industry moves faster, further, and with more integrity.

So the next time someone asks where the future of sustainability lies, don’t just point to the latest brand campaign. Point to the place where ambition meets action – the factory floor. If you are a brand marketer or sustainability practitioner, it’s your responsibility to tell the whole story.

And if you are a manufacturer looking to craft genuine narratives that go beyond the green hype, we invite you to share your challenges openly and elevate your successes (by way of case studies or interviews on Source of Good). In every convening point, we will continue to ensure your voice is central to the conversation.

Have a story to share? Reach out.

Blogs / Driving Collective Impact: How Cascale and Worldly’s Shared Value Loop Delivers Clarity and Impact

Driving Collective Impact: How Cascale and Worldly’s Shared Value Loop Delivers Clarity and Impact

Higg Index Tools
Leadership

In this joint blog post, Cascale’s Lee Green and Worldly’s Jay Gaines outline the shared value and goals between the two organizations.

Jay Gaines

Lee Green

November 12, 2025

In an industry as interconnected as ours, progress on sustainability depends on shared purpose, credible data, and scalable action.

That’s why Cascale and Worldly work together through what we call the Shared Value Loop, a concept we revealed at the Cascale Annual Meeting 2025 in Hong Kong. The Shared Value Loop is how Cascale and Worldly turn credibility into capability, and capability into measurable progress. It’s a living system that ensures standards evolve, data scales, and insights turn into impact across the value chain.

The Shared Value Loop represents how our two organizations — one a market-driven nonprofit, the other a leading technology platform — complement one another in driving industry transformation. It’s not just a collaboration; it’s a system designed to ensure that members, customers, and the broader community all benefit from clarity, consistency, and real results.

Where Credibility Meets Capability

Cascale and Worldly play different but deeply connected roles within the sustainability ecosystem.

Cascale convenes a global industry, and ensures the integrity of the tools, the alignment of methodologies, and the industry-wide governance that keeps our systems credible and trusted.
Worldly delivers those tools at scale through a real-time technology platform, proven analytics, and industry-forward innovation; making credible data accessible, actionable, and comparable.

Together, we close the loop between standard-setting and implementation, turning ambition into measurable impact. This collaboration ensures that credible standards become widely adopted practices — moving the industry from alignment to real-world execution.

Cascale builds the foundation for credible, science-based measurement. Worldly transforms that foundation into daily usability, enabling thousands of organizations to act on shared standards, at scale.

The Eight Dimensions of Shared Value

The Shared Value Loop is built around eight reinforcing elements that move from Cascale’s foundation of governance and legitimacy to Worldly’s enablement through data and technology.

1. Tool Governance & Methodology Integrity (Cascale)

Everything starts with a robust foundation. Cascale governs the methodologies that underpin its Higg Index tools, ensuring they are science-based, globally aligned, and further enhanced through a multi-stakeholder process.

2. Market Access & Industry Relevance (Cascale)

Cascale brings together 300+ members across the value chain — brands, manufacturers, and affiliates — ensuring the tools and frameworks stay relevant to real-world challenges and business needs.

3. Legitimacy & Accountability (Cascale)

Cascale’s multi-stakeholder governance provides transparency and accountability, giving industry, civil society, and academia a voice in shaping credible frameworks that include the voices of all actors, including the manufacturers.

4. Collective Action & Impact Leadership (Cascale → Worldly)

Through shared initiatives — from decarbonization programs to responsible purchasing practices — Cascale mobilizes its members and broader global community around shared commitments and the co-creation of solutions. Worldly then operationalizes those commitments through data and insights, turning collective intent into measurable outcomes.

5. Platform & Network Scale (Worldly)

Worldly connects the world’s largest sustainability network — tens of thousands of facilities and hundreds of brands and retailers — transforming individual data inputs into collective visibility and progress. This reach is powered by years of investment in innovation and customer enablement, ensuring the Higg Index and related tools reach the hands of those driving change on the ground.

6. Analytics & Actionable Intelligence (Worldly)

Worldly’s powerful analytics and benchmarking capabilities transform raw data into trusted intelligence, helping organizations predict risks, identify opportunities, track progress, and act with confidence.

7. Reporting & Risk Management (Worldly)

The platform supports credible reporting and risk management by offering consistent data outputs that align with major ESG disclosure frameworks and emerging regulatory requirements.

8. Technology Innovation & Enablement (Worldly)

Finally, Worldly’s ongoing innovation keeps the tools future-ready, integrating new capabilities like supplier dashboards, advanced benchmarking, and AI-driven analytics to accelerate learning and performance.

Delivering Value Across the Ecosystem

This Shared Value Loop ensures that every stakeholder benefits:

Retailers and brands gain credible, comparable data to guide business decisions and meet regulatory expectations.
Manufacturers gain visibility, benchmarking solutions, and opportunities to improve and be recognized for progress. They also gain efficiencies by aligning with a widely accepted standard (the Higg Index), and stronger alignment with their customers’ sustainability goals and increased access to markets that value verified performance.
Policymakers and investors gain confidence in standardized, verifiable data.
And the planet benefits from coordinated, data-driven action rather than fragmented, duplicative efforts.

By connecting Cascale’s convening power with Worldly’s delivery capability, the Shared Value Loop creates a self-reinforcing system: the more it’s used, the stronger and more valuable it becomes.

From Shared Framework to Shared Impact

We asked, and over 3,000 of you answered our recent awareness survey. You want a clearer depiction of how Cascale and Worldly work, and what benefits are ultimately delivered to you. The Shared Value Loop ensures every action reinforces the next, from credible standards to verified data to measurable progress. It’s how ambition turns into execution, and how our shared ecosystem grows stronger with every new participant. With your help, we are creating the alignment the industry needs to deliver on its sustainability goals — faster, smarter, and at scale.

Our shared goal is simple:

To equip the consumer goods industry with the trusted data and collaborative networks needed to achieve measurable, lasting impact.

As we expand further into adjacent product categories, such as home furnishings, this model will remain our foundation — helping new sectors tap into credible measurement, scalable data, and collective action.

Press Releases / Cascale Appoints Seasoned Executive as Interim CEO

Cascale Appoints Seasoned Executive as Interim CEO

Leadership

Cascale has announced Harsh Saini as interim CEO, effective August 1, following the conclusion of Colin Browne’s tenure.

Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) – July 1, 2025: Cascale, the global nonprofit alliance formerly the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, today announced Harsh Saini as interim CEO, effective August 1, following the conclusion of Colin Browne’s tenure. Saini, who currently serves on Cascale’s Board of Directors, will lead the organization as it advances key 2025 strategic priorities and continues its global search for a permanent CEO.

Saini brings more than three decades of international business leadership in the consumer goods industry, having held senior executive roles at The Fung Group and Nike. She also currently serves on the Boards of Global Fashion Agenda, PUMA, and Worldly, giving her deep insight into the opportunities and challenges facing the industry. After 25 years living and working in Asia, she is now based in the U.K.

“Harsh’s appointment ensures continuity during a critical phase of implementation,” said Tamar Hoek, Cascale Board Chair and Senior Policy Director Sustainable Fashion at Solidaridad. “She knows our organization well, understands the landscape, and brings both strategic vision and operational insight. We’re confident she will support the team and help accelerate our work on climate and decent work.”

Saini steps into the role at a pivotal moment for Cascale, as the organization sharpens its focus on execution, building on the foundation laid in 2024 to drive measurable, collaborative progress across the global consumer goods value chain. With a strong international team, deepening member engagement, and renewed ambition to scale unified impact, Cascale is well-positioned to enter its next chapter of industry leadership and aligned action.

Press Releases / Cascale Expands Membership Engagement Team

Cascale Expands Membership Engagement Team

Leadership
Membership

Leadership appointments advance Cascale’s focus on more tailored, equitable member engagement and industry-wide collaboration.

Headshots of Alexandra Rieger and Joleen Ong, Cascale team members

Leadership appointments advance Cascale’s focus on more tailored, equitable member engagement and industry-wide collaboration.

Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) – January 31, 2024: As part of the ongoing evolution of its member engagement and governance model, Cascale has expanded its membership engagement team to include Alexandra Rieger, senior director, manufacturer membership, and Joleen Ong, senior director, brand & retailer membership. This new structure reflects Cascale’s commitment to enhancing member engagement through a more tailored and equitable approach to serving the needs of its diverse membership. Alexandra Rieger and Joleen Ong bring extensive expertise in sustainability, supply chain dynamics, and human rights, and their appointments strengthen Cascale’s capacity to deliver meaningful support to members and drive impactful outcomes across the value chain.

The shift demonstrates Cascale’s ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and inclusive decision-making for all members, further elevating supplier and manufacturer voices while maintaining robust support for brand and retailer, and affiliate members. By fostering equitable partnerships and balancing the diverse needs of all stakeholders, Cascale is better positioned than ever to lead the consumer goods industry toward collaboration, regulatory alignment, and sustainability goals.

Andrew Martin, executive vice president at Cascale, commented, “We’re so excited to welcome Alexandra and Joleen to the Cascale team as we strengthen our commitment to more tailored and equitable member engagement. Their leadership will bring fresh perspectives, deepen our collaboration with members, and help us address the complex challenges facing the industry. With their vast experience and depth of expertise, Cascale is better positioned to empower members and advance meaningful progress across sustainability, innovation, and equitable partnership.”

Alexandra Rieger will oversee all aspects of manufacturer member engagement and impact, ensuring manufacturers are empowered with tools, resources, and support to drive industry transformation. She has cultivated over 20 years in global sourcing and supply chain leadership roles across the industry, leading manufacturers and brands like Brandix, MAS, Triumph, Gildan, and Levi Strauss.

“Joining Cascale represents an incredible opportunity to work alongside a vast membership base to advance sustainability and innovation across the value chain,” said Alexandra Rieger, senior director, manufacturer membership at Cascale. “Each supply chain has the potential to create value and an urgent responsibility to address the challenges facing the planet and its people. I’m excited to engage with manufacturers to amplify their voices, empower their contributions, and collectively drive meaningful change—particularly in areas like decarbonization and responsible sourcing. Together, we can orchestrate solutions that balance complexity, innovation, and impact.”

Joleen Ong will lead all aspects of brand & retailer member engagement, helping members drive sustainability impact through the use of Cascale’s Higg Index tools and programs. She brings over 15 years of experience in sustainability and human rights within the apparel and footwear industries and has extensive expertise in operationalizing the Higg Index tools across brands. She previously served as the sustainability director at Fanatics, where she led the integration of sustainability practices and responsible purchasing initiatives across the enterprise, and led the sustainable manufacturing and licensing programs at Columbia Sportswear Company.

Joleen Ong, senior director, brand & retailer membership at Cascale shared, “I’m honored to join Cascale and work alongside such a dedicated team committed to driving collective action across the apparel and consumer goods industry. By equipping brands and retailers with the tools and resources needed to combat climate change and support decent work for all, we have an incredible opportunity to create meaningful change at scale. I’m eager to leverage my experience at two Cascale member brands to build robust, inclusive listening channels and partner effectively with our members on this crucial journey toward a more sustainable future.”

ABOUT CASCALE

Cascale is the global nonprofit alliance empowering collaboration to drive equitable and restorative business practices in the consumer goods industry. Formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cascale owns and develops the Higg Index, which is exclusively available on Worldly, the most comprehensive sustainability data and insights platform. Cascale unites over 300 retailers, brands, manufacturers, governments, academics, and NGO/nonprofit affiliates around the globe through one singular vision: To catalyze impact at scale and give back more than we take to the planet and its people.

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