Produced by the apparel alliance – Apparel Impact Institute, Cascale, Textile Exchange, and ZDHC Foundation – the revised framework delivers consistency, transparency, and collaboration across the textile, clothing, leather, and footwear sectors.
Produced by the apparel alliance – Apparel Impact Institute, Cascale, Textile Exchange, and ZDHC Foundation – the revised framework delivers consistency, transparency, and collaboration across the textile, clothing, leather, and footwear sectors.
Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) — July 14, 2026: The apparel alliance (Apparel Impact Institute, Cascale, Textile Exchange, and ZDHC Foundation) today announced the launch of Version 2 of the Supply Chain Taxonomy, an updated harmonized framework designed to improve consistency, transparency, and collaboration across the textile, clothing, leather, and footwear (TCLF) sectors of the broader apparel industry.
“Shared definitions are not just administrative; they help the industry make better decisions, improve data quality, and work from the same understanding of the supply chain. Clarifying that wet processing is accounted for across all tiers, not just Tier 2, gives the industry a more accurate picture of where emissions sit and where action is needed most.” — Alma Palacios, senior sustainability reporting coordinator at Aii
“When facilities, products, and processes are classified consistently, the whole industry benefits, from more reliable data and clearer reporting to stronger collaboration on the work that matters most. The updated Supply Chain Taxonomy is foundational infrastructure for a more aligned and effective sustainability ecosystem. It reflects what’s possible when organizations commit to alignment, and we’re confident it will support more effective progress across the value chain.” — Joël Mertens, director of environmental impact methodologies at Cascale
“Aligning on a shared language for the supply chain is fundamental to driving credible, system-wide progress. This updated taxonomy helps bring greater clarity and consistency to how materials, processes, and impacts are understood and reported, enabling more effective collaboration and accelerating the industry’s transition to preferred production systems.”— Luca Mosca, director of impact data and reporting at Textile Exchange
“No single organisation can drive industry transformation alone. Shared language is a crucial foundation to enable collaboration within the ecosystem of like-minded partners. Bringing more depth to the Supply Chain Taxonomy with this new update strengthens the common foundation of the apparel alliance to enhance clarity for the wider value chain actors as well as unlock new opportunities to create a more interoperable system.” — Maria Arroyo, sector partnership lead at ZDHC
Building on its initial release in November 2024, the updated taxonomy addresses key challenges in the original framework, including overlapping processes, undefined boundaries, and classification gaps. The result is a clearer, more detailed structure that supports consistent classifications across the TCLF value chain and future alignment across apparel alliance work and joint initiatives.
The Supply Chain Taxonomy supports the apparel industry by:
The Supply Chain Taxonomy is a jointly developed and maintained resource of the apparel alliance organizations (Apparel Impact Institute, Cascale, Textile Exchange, and ZDHC). Designed as an evolving framework, planned annual updates reflect stakeholder feedback, emerging materials and technologies, and ongoing regulatory and industry developments. While not exhaustive, the taxonomy provides a practical foundation for classifying the most common processes and products across the value chain.
ABOUT THE apparel alliance
The apparel alliance is a collaborative industry working group uniting four global organizations: Apparel Impact Institute, Cascale, Textile Exchange, and ZDHC Foundation. Since its inception in 2020, the apparel alliance has worked to align sustainability tools, programs, and industry initiatives while reducing duplicative efforts across the apparel and textile sector. By combining complementary expertise, global networks, and shared goals, the apparel alliance aims to accelerate industry decarbonization and achieve a minimum 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 across the global supply chain.
ABOUT Aii
Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) is a nonprofit collective founded in 2017 by four industry leaders: the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and Target Corporation. The organization emerged organically as a result of a real need that apparel brands and retailers self-identified. Gap Inc., PVH, Arvind Mills, HSBC, GIZ, Stichting Doen and Schmidt Family Foundation joined the founders in the first three years of start-up and organizational development. Aii identifies, funds, and scales proven quality solutions to accelerate positive impact in the apparel and footwear industry. Aii programs focus on areas that result in positive environmental impact from the production of apparel and footwear products to improve the industry.
ABOUT CASCALE
Cascale is the global nonprofit alliance driving systemic transformation to combat climate change and support decent work in the consumer goods industry. Formerly the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cascale unites a diverse, worldwide ecosystem of over 300 retailer, brand, manufacturer, supplier, service provider, government, academic, and nonprofit members.
Our alliance catalyzes pre-competitive collaboration for maximum impact, anchored by our stewardship of the Higg Index frameworks — implemented through the Worldly technology platform — and recent acquisition of the Better Buying and Sustainable Furnishings Council tools. While these methodologies are central to our work, they are part of a broader strategy to mobilize collective action, challenge industry norms, and build an industry that gives back more than it takes to the planet and its people.
Cascale Media Contact: Forster Communications, cascaleforster@forster.co.uk
ABOUT TEXTILE EXCHANGE
Textile Exchange is a global non-profit driving beneficial impacts on climate and nature across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry. It guides a growing community of brands, manufacturers, and farmers towards more purposeful production from the very start of the supply chain.
Its goal is to help the industry to achieve a 45% reduction in the emissions that come from producing fibers and raw materials by 2030, while keeping its focus holistic and interconnected and seeking to improve the state of our freshwater, soil health, and biodiversity too.
For real change to happen, everyone needs a clear path to beneficial impact. That’s why Textile Exchange believes that approachable, step-by-step instruction paired with collective action can change the system to make preferred materials and fibers the accessible default, mobilizing leaders through attainable strategies, proven solutions and a driven community.
At Textile Exchange, materials matter. To learn more, visit TextileExchange.org.
ABOUT ZDHC
The ZDHC Foundation oversees the implementation of the Roadmap to Zero Programme and is a global multi-stakeholder initiative of more than 350 Signatories within the fashion and footwear industry. Its vision is widespread implementation of sustainable chemistry, driving innovations and best practices to protect consumers, workers, and the environment. ZDHC uses collaborative engagement to drive a holistic, industry-focused and practical approach to sustainable chemical management. ZDHC guidelines, platforms and solutions drive large-scale industry-wide implementation that advances the industry as a whole towards the zero discharge of hazardous chemicals.
Corporate membership is for organizations ready to lead and play an active role in shaping the sustainable future of consumer goods.
Some organizations aren’t just responding to the sustainability moment — they’re redefining it. What sets them apart isn’t just ambition. It’s a pre-competitive edge.
For many of them, there is Cascale membership in common. Be it supplier relationships, policy influence, or decarbonization, Cascale Corporate membership helps move their efforts from measurement to meaningful industry-wide change. Here’s how.
Picture the fast-movers, serious investors, visionaries, and early adopters. Many established brands are already investing heavily in sustainable innovations, policy, design, and responsible supply chains. Yet they need their long-term suppliers growing alongside them: aligned on the same standards and speaking the same language.
But building those relationships across a global, fragmented supply chain is harder than it sounds.
Manufacturers feel this tension too. As one participant in Cascale’s Manufacturer Interview Group noted in May 2025: “The global North is driving all the main legislations but does not align and actively engage with the global South, where all production is located.” Another participant reinforced the importance of having a shared “middle ground.”
That disconnect has real consequences — for compliance, for supplier viability, and for the credibility of industry-wide progress.
Even the most decorated sustainability leaders are operating within a broader industry still reliant on coal-powered facilities. Individual progress matters but it doesn’t change the system. That requires shared standards, aligned policy engagement, and organizations willing to use their influence and expertise on behalf of the whole.
No single brand or manufacturer can move the needle at scale alone. Yet confidence comes from a proven track record. A 2025 Cascale awareness survey showed that the majority (over 86 percent) of respondents are somewhat or very confident in Cascale’s ability to guide crucial impact work.
Corporate membership is built for organizations ready to move beyond measurement and help confidently shape their industry’s future. Members gain access to:
Sustainability leadership isn’t just about moving faster alone. It’s about helping move the entire industry forward.
For many organizations, the strongest move is to pair Cascale Corporate Membership with a Worldly supplier data or measurement plan — a natural complement that deepens value on both sides.
A common thread from shared value to shared ambition, Corporate membership is for those ready to shape the future of consumer goods.
And as of this month, we are proud to announce a new referral program to existing members that allows them to save some costs to their renewal dues for successfully referring peers to Cascale Corporate membership (get in touch with your member activation manager for more details).
The ESRAP Educates session connected students and faculty with Cascale, the Higg Index, and Worldly to build career-ready sustainability skills.
Cascale recently joined a new educational workshop series led by Educators for Socially-Responsible Apparel Practices (ESRAP), creating a direct connection between industry tools and the next generation of fashion and sustainability professionals.
Facilitated by Andrea Kennedy, fashion department lead at Berkeley College, a Cascale member, and Tasha Lewis, a fashion and retail studies professor at The Ohio State University, the session marked an early installment of ESRAP Educates. The speaker-panel series is designed to equip fashion faculty with practical insights and resources they can bring back to their classrooms. More than 45 students and educators participated, representing programs in sustainable fashion, apparel, and footwear.
Speakers from Cascale and Worldly explained how the two organizations work together to support credible sustainability education and real-world application. Cascale’s communications director Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff shared an overview of Cascale’s mission as a global nonprofit alliance and steward of the Higg Index, which is exclusively available on Worldly. Then, Charlie Gustafson, product marketing manager at Worldly, shared the organization’s role as the comprehensive data and analytics platform that helps scale the Higg Index tools.
Together, the directors illustrated how industry-aligned standards, trusted data, and scalable platforms work in tandem to turn sustainability goals into measurable action. The discussion focused on how educators and students can use these tools to develop practical, career-ready skills aligned with current industry expectations.
The workshop also explored opportunities for students and academic institutions to engage with Cascale and Worldly, including access to resources, learning pathways, and membership benefits that support teaching, research, and workforce development.
By participating in ESRAP Educates, Cascale continues to expand its engagement with the academic community, supporting educators as they prepare students to navigate sustainability challenges with clarity, consistency, and credible data.
Textile Exchange hosted its annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Cascale staff showed strong representation and support, even hosting a dedicated Lunch & Learn.
This year, Textile Exchange hosted its annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal from October 13 to 17 – convening hundreds of stakeholders in apparel, textiles, and fashion for insights on the global materials and fibers landscape. The event follows the inaugural “Climate and Nature Studio,” held in September in New York City for Climate Week NYC, jointly hosted by Cascale with the apparel alliance..
Cascale staff – among them Hamza Habib Hasan, senior manager of member engagement, brand and retail; Ellie Hackwood, manager of member engagement brand and retail; Elisabeth von Reitzenstein, senior director, public affairs; Carolina van Loenen, director of stakeholder engagement; Melissa O de León, senior manager of Higg Product Tools; and Erlinda Lee, director of global membership development – attended the week-long conference. Sessions reflected the urgency of the climate crisis and biodiversity, examining the broader market forces influencing how businesses adapt with a systems change-oriented viewpoint.
Along with programming and networking moments, the Cascale team hosted an invite-only Lunch & Learn with 30 members gathering in an intimate dialogue on convergence. The “Navigating Convergence: Exploring Manufacturer & Brand Realities” session began with Hasan welcoming attendees and sharing insights on Cascale, the Higg Index, and the broader consumer goods ecosystem. Then Hasan spoke with Sapphire Finishing Mills’ head of sustainability Raffay Bin Rauf and Teddy Group’s environmental specialist Eleonora Lepri about the challenges and opportunities facing convergence.
Afterwards, Cascale staff facilitated group discussions on overcoming internal silos, audit harmonization and aligning proprietary assessments, and strengthening buyer-supplier relationships. Each group explored challenges, successes, and solutions. At the end of the lunch, participants shared learnings with the wider audience. The key takeaways included that greater collaboration, consistency, and alignment is needed between brands’ sustainability and sourcing teams, with C-Level support as a necessary leverage. Additionally, attendees agreed that there are many opportunities for MSIs to support mutual code of conducts, to provide training for sourcing and sustainability teams, and to facilitate brand-manufacturer roundtables for honest feedback. Finally, the group agreed that communication, regionality, and context awareness underlie every interaction – helping craft a more complete picture of effective partnerships.
As with Cascale, the Worldly team also showed a strong representation at the event. Worldly participated in the Textile Exchange Conference as a Platinum Sponsor, along with hosting a networking breakfast on October 15 that included more than 20 guests representing Worldly Customers and top apparel and consumer goods brands, retailers, and manufacturers from across the globe. The Worldly team took advantage of this event to demonstrate its newest technology that makes Cascale’s Higg Index tools, exclusively available on Worldly, even more impactful for customers across textile and apparel supply chains.
Cascale, Fair Wear, SLCP will dive deeper on creating impactful human rights due diligence at the Annual Meeting 2025.
Cascale’s Annual Member Meeting, “A Movement for All,” takes place in Hong Kong September 15 to 17. The event will address how we, as an industry, can collectively address and solve two of the most critical challenges facing our industry today: Combating Climate Change and Supporting Decent Work For All.
It’s an outsized challenge but a shared commitment. Leaders today are those frontrunner brands, suppliers, policymakers, and non-corporate players that are doubling down on climate change and decent work as a business imperative. Together, they are confronting a dizzying array of duplicate initiatives, repeat data sources, and outdated auditing systems in place. By collectively refining the approach to measuring, verifying, and enhancing social and environmental performance, compliance and responsible purchasing practices becomes a nearer reality.
Compliance is a growing area of interest for industry players, and convening organizations have a role to play. In its background note on regulatory developments concerning due diligence for responsible business conduct, The Role of Sustainability Initiatives in Mandatory Due Diligence (OECD, 2022) recognizes Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) as playing a crucial role, acting as both facilitators, providing tools and guidance for companies, and verifiers, assessing and potentially certifying company practices. But the guidance also notes that, despite recent examples of initiatives converging and aligning approaches, the landscape is still complex and confusing, with 455 ecolabels and various environmental schemes listed in the Ecolabel Index at the time of writing.
In this playing field and true to this year’s event theme, Cascale, the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), and Fair Wear will come together to be greater than the sum of our already formidable parts to promote impactful Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) by brands and suppliers. We aim to support stakeholders on their journey through building and leveraging joint tools, best practices, and accountability mechanisms.
This joint work builds on discussions we originally held at our Annual Meeting in Boston, back in 2023, exploring the potential of HRDD as an organizing principle for the industry, and aims to be complementary – rather than additive. Because it’s only together that can we scale accountability in an actionable way.
Between us, we believe we have all the tools a company needs to conduct impactful due diligence. Cascale owns and develops the Higg Index suite of tools, and since February, has owned the Better Buying toolset informed by surveys on brand and retailer purchasing practices. We have over 300 members and 40,000 Higg Index users. Fair Wear led the industry effort towards alignment on the Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing, while its HRDD Academy supports brands to better understand the HRDD cycle and practically implement human rights due diligence both within the company and across the supply chain. SLCP now boasts over 250 signatories and its Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) forms the foundation of Cascale’s Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM).
It’s an executive priority. “Cascale, SLCP, and Fair Wear see great opportunities in driving impactful HRDD by working more closely together,” said Harsh Saini, interim chief executive officer of Cascale. “Together, we have immense convening power, expertise, and volumes of credible and actionable data. We are all speaking the same language on due diligence, and our tools fit together and complement each other, providing brands and retailers with everything they need for their due diligence journey.”
As well, the work becomes a shared responsibility. “We’re united around a shared vision,” added Annabel Meurs, executive director of Fair Wear. “This will set the tone in the industry on what impactful due diligence looks like, holding brands and retailers accountable in making progress and to scale up best practices that will have a real impact on workers.”
Steve Harris, COO of SLCP , underscored: “Our three organizations will work together to develop and cross-promote each bilateral partner’s tools, drive collective action, sharing HRDD knowledge and best practice across the whole of our membership and signatories, and advocating for decent work with policymakers.”
The next opportunity to hear more about our collective expression of deepened and more targeted coordination will be at Cascale’s Annual Member Meeting in Hong Kong, September 15 to 17. The event will feature presentations from Fair Wear and SLCP on key topics, including making responsible purchasing practices the norm within the industry, and what needs to happen next to drive real movement on audit fatigue. You can also visit the Cascale, Fair Wear, and SLCP booths in the exhibition area to find out more about the tools and guidance available.
Cascale’s Lee Green reflects on the role of events in driving meaningful change across our industry and shares how Cascale events create space for conversations that are grounded in action, and platforms that help participants connect, learn, and contribute meaningfully.
The lights, the music, the front rows filled with VIPs; there’s no denying fashion knows how to put on a show. Events have become a key part of the industry calendar, offering a stage for new collections, big ideas, and bolder ambitions.
And when it comes to sustainability, many events have started to follow suit: panel talks, public commitments, glitzy side dinners discussing the future of fashion. But amid all the excitement, one question often lingers: when the spotlight fades, what’s left?
Too often, what’s missing is substance. Ambitious targets are announced, but the “how” is vague. Big challenges are raised, but the answers remain surface-level. We celebrate vision, but skip over verification.
This isn’t to say events don’t matter. On the contrary, I believe in the power of convening. The best events do more than just inspire; they create space to co-build solutions, build capability, and push the industry forward. That’s what we aim for with Cascale events: conversations that are grounded in action, and platforms that help participants connect, learn, and contribute meaningfully.
But for the industry as a whole, we need to be honest: the path to 2030 isn’t paved with promises alone. It’s built on data, standardization, and a willingness to get uncomfortable about what’s not working yet. It’s about meeting people where they are and safeguarding spaces for voices that are often marginalized, like manufacturers – who are critical to achieving sustainability goals. That’s why Cascale joined with the International Apparel Federation to convene the Manufacturer Interview Group, providing opportunities to bridge the gap between manufacturers, brands, retailers, and policymakers. And it’s where tools like the Higg Index come in. They’re not always as headline-grabbing as a new campaign or a celebrity endorsement, but they’re essential. They help companies measure impact, report consistently, and track progress against targets – providing the kind of credible evidence that turns a sustainability claim into a sustainability journey.
Because in the end, it’s not enough to say you care. The companies leading the way are the ones showing their work – publicly, transparently, and year on year.
So let’s keep the conversations going at events – and raise the bar. Let’s ask the tough questions, celebrate real wins, and make space for the complexity that comes with meaningful change. We also encourage companies to explore our membership and learn about the collaborative opportunities available.
Because sustainability shouldn’t be a moment in the spotlight; it must be the work we’re doing every day, long after the applause and PR has ended.
Cascale was deeply appreciative of ZDHC for recently having Carolina van Loenen, director of stakeholder engagement at Cascale, participate in ZDHC’s Convention Week event in Amsterdam.
Cascale was deeply appreciative of ZDHC for recently having Carolina van Loenen, director of stakeholder engagement at Cascale, participate in ZDHC’s Convention Week event in Amsterdam. Celebrating a decade of ZDHC’s transformative progress in the industry, the event featured a week of sector-focused meetings, cross-industry collaboration, and technical deep dives. It brought together global changemakers to share insights on how to shape the future of responsible production and sustainable chemical management.
Van Loenen joined a panel to discuss how sustainability initiatives can better align, reduce duplication, and improve outcomes for suppliers, brands, and the planet. The panel was moderated by Janne Koopmans, collaborations director at ZDHC Foundation, and included Carolin Franitza, stakeholder manager at OEKO-TEX, Francesca Rulli, co-founder at Ympact, and Maria Pulido, global advisor, sustainable trade stakeholders and partnerships at Amfori.
Van Loenen emphasized the need to move beyond fragmented efforts, noting that some manufacturers undergo as many as 200 audits a year, an overwhelming challenge which can hinder real progress. Reflecting Cascale’s mandate to foster pre-competitive collaboration, she reiterated that most environmental and social challenges — such as factory emissions or excessive overtime — cannot be solved by one brand alone. Van Loenen noted that when competitors align on shared expectations, data systems, and improvement frameworks, it helps create a level playing field and clearer market signals for suppliers.
She shared that insufficient cooperation among numerous sustainability initiatives in the apparel and textile industry has slowed progress, leading to duplicative, overlapping, isolated, and at times contradictory audit and improvement programmes, resulting in fragmentation and suboptimal outcomes.
Highlighting the importance of collaboration and partnerships, a value proposition for Cascale members, Van Loenen delved into some real-life examples of collaboration in action, including a recent grant-funded pilot project with the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) and ZDHC. Developed under the umbrella of the apparel alliance program, the Factory Improvement Journey can help brands and supply chain partners clarify how different environmental programmes such as the Higg FEM, Supplier to Zero and Aii Clean by Design can optimize the use of existing tools without duplicating efforts. She shared how the project supported alignment by creating a Data Matrix, which mapped key data points across the three programmes – a first step toward a more open and interoperable data model, reducing audit fatigue, making environmental due diligence more efficient, and thereby consolidating sustainability programmes. She invited other sustainability assessment tools and improvement programs to join the initiative and industry stakeholders to join existing endorsers of the publicly available guidance.
Van Loenen’s concluding remarks reiterated the urgent need for collective action to achieve meaningful progress. She highlighted the importance of amplifying supplier voices, fostering industry alignment, and true collaboration to accelerate collective action to address complex issues facing the industry. She urged like-minded multistakeholder initiatives to take bold action on data sharing as well as companies to leverage the extensive data insights of tools such as Cascale’s Higg Index suite of tools, and The Better Buying Partnership Index (BBPI). These tools offer actionable insights and are designed to drive efficiencies, reduce costs, and enhance both environmental and social performance, ultimately contributing to more resilient supply chains.
Lee Green’s latest blog explores why the collaboration gap persists, the tough questions our industry needs to answer, and how the Cascale Forum: Ho Chi Minh City 2025 is designed to turn conversation into action.
For years, we’ve talked about the power of collaboration. It’s become a buzzword in sustainability circles—an easy go-to in conference keynotes, annual reports, and panel discussions.
Yet, if we’re honest, true collaboration remains rare.
Too often, brands, manufacturers, policymakers, and even multi-stakeholder initiatives work in parallel rather than in true partnership. Everyone agrees that collective action is needed, but when it comes to the difficult decisions — how to share costs, align incentives, and rethink old power dynamics — we default to what’s comfortable. We continue working within our own lanes and protecting our own interests without challenging the status quo.
Difficult conversations happen daily—in conferences, boardrooms, factories, management offices, and brand meetings. The key is ensuring these conversations lead to real impact. Events can help us identify what’s working, what’s not, and crucially, how we drive greater equity in decision-making. But talk alone won’t move the needle. Our collective focus must remain firmly on translating these conversations into meaningful actions.
The Cascale Forum: Ho Chi Minh City 2025 aims to be a platform for these important, but difficult conversations. The program has been designed to specifically allow our extended community to sit at the same table and ask:
Our industry doesn’t lack ambition. Many brands and retailers have set science-based targets (67 percent of brands and 46 percent of manufacturers, by Cascale’s count). Increasingly, manufacturers are making investments in sustainability. Policy shifts are pushing companies to act.
But intentions don’t always translate into action. Why?
Power imbalances still dominate the conversation, and we continue to explore the unique role Cascale can play in helping to alleviate tension, and drive progress. For example, one known tension is the buyer-supplier dynamic, where:
More broadly, we also know short-term pressures often trump long-term sustainability strategies:
Regulation is coming, but it won’t solve everything
At Cascale, we’ve been working on some of these challenges head-on,through initiatives like the Industry Decarbonization Roadmap (IDR), which is helping manufacturers scale emissions reductions with business-backed solutions.
But the reality is: no one organization can fix this alone. This is what true collaboration looks like, and it’s not at all easy.
So what will it take?
If you’ve ever felt frustrated by the disconnect between ambition and action in our industry, consider bringing this input and insight to our upcoming forum. It’s what the event has been designed to discuss.
I hope to see you there.
May 14–15, 2025
Thiskyhall Sala Convention, Ho Chi Minh City
Cascale Collaborates with Industry Leaders to Advance Climate Action and Support Brands on Their Sustainability Journey
Cascale Collaborates with Industry Leaders to Advance Climate Action and Support Brands on Their Sustainability Journey
Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) – December 20, 2024: Cascale, the global nonprofit alliance formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, announces its collaboration with FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE, an industry-leading initiative founded by ABOUT YOU Group, YOOX NET-A-PORTER, and Zalando in collaboration with Quantis. This joint effort aims to accelerate the adoption of science-based targets within the textile, apparel, and footwear industry and allows Cascale to better support its brand members in their sustainability and climate action journeys.
Launched in 2022, FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE is designed to elevate the fashion industry’s response to the inherent climate challenges it faces. It supports fashion brands to learn how to measure their own carbon footprints and set targets in line with climate science. Since 2022, over 85 percent of the brand partners that have participated reported an increase in their understanding of climate issues and science-based targets to reduce Scope 3 emissions.
Recognizing the vital role fashion retailers play in driving industry transformation, FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE’s co-founders have consistently focused on empowering brands, partners, and suppliers to accelerate their climate initiatives. Recently, ASOS, BOOZT, and Selfridges Group joined FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE as new members, extending the climate education program invitation to hundreds of fashion brands within their combined portfolio—further underscoring its growing impact.
Now, Cascale—uniting over 300 organizations across the global consumer goods industry—has joined forces with FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE to accelerate science-based target adoption and deepen its members’ learning journey. This collaboration offers an immersive eight-week education program with step-by-step guidance on measuring corporate carbon footprints and submitting science-based targets to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), reflecting a collective, industry-wide commitment to meaningful climate action. A pilot program, launched on October 28, 2024, marked the beginning of this enhanced educational support for Cascale members.
Colin Browne, chief executive officer at Cascale, commented, “The climate crisis is here, and fashion’s supply chain feels it every day. There’s no time to waste. That’s why we’re excited to partner with FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE to accelerate the adoption of science-based targets across the industry. The need for clear, measurable climate action has never been more urgent. By helping our brand and retailer members better understand and commit to these targets, we can make meaningful progress and drive the real, lasting change this moment demands.”
Cascale’s Decarbonization Program will benefit from the comprehensive educational offerings provided through FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE, further enhancing members’ capacity to reduce emissions. Since integrating SBTs into Cascale membership requirements in 2023, over 60 percent of Cascale corporate members have set or are actively working towards setting SBTs or science-aligned targets (SATs). Establishing these targets is critical to establishing effective decarbonization strategies and cutting emissions. Cascale’s collaboration with FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE serves as a key initiative in accelerating progress toward Cascale’s goal of 80 percent SBT or SAT adoption among its corporate members—including brands, retailers, holding groups, third-party retailers, and manufacturers—and reinforces the organization’s commitment to combating climate change.
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. LinkedIn | X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
ABOUT FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE
The FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE learning platform is fully sponsored by ABOUT YOU Group, YOOX NET-A-PORTER, and Zalando and curated by sustainability consultancy Quantis, a BCG company. Brand partners of ABOUT YOU Group, ASOS, BOOZT, YOOX NET-A-PORTER, Selfridges Group, and Zalando interested in learning how to measure greenhouse gas emissions, set targets aligned with climate science, and submit them to the SBTi, as well as retailers interested in accelerating the adoption of science-based targets among their brand partners, are invited to get in touch: info@fashionleapforclimate.com.
For further information on FASHION LEAP FOR CLIMATE, visit: https://fashionleapforclimate.com/
Cascale team member Hanna Griesbeck Garcia, manager of stakeholder engagement and project manager of TIWW, recently moderated The Industry We Want (TIWW) Deep Dive webinar that focused on unpacking challenges related to stagnating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the garment industry.
Cascale team member Hanna Griesbeck Garcia, manager of stakeholder engagement and project manager of TIWW, recently moderated The Industry We Want (TIWW) Deep Dive webinar that focused on unpacking challenges related to stagnating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the garment industry.
Cascale team member Hanna Griesbeck Garcia, manager of stakeholder engagement and project manager of TIWW, recently moderated The Industry We Want (TIWW) Deep Dive webinar that focused on unpacking challenges related to stagnating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the garment industry. The discussion centered around climate vulnerabilities impacting workers and supply chains, including extreme flooding and rising temperatures, and the importance of increasing climate adaptation efforts across the value chain. Panelists explored the economic and human cost of action and how industry-wide collaboration can drive meaningful change.
TIWW, an initiative convened by Fair Wear, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), and Cascale, “envisages a garment and footwear industry that realizes its full potential to ensure dignity for workers in decent jobs, thriving businesses along the supply chain, and a positive impact on the planet.” In addition to Griesbeck Garcia, the webinar featured Brian Wakamo, research support specialist at the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University ILR School, and Prakash Menakel Philip, global director of strategy and impact at Cotton Connect.
Griesbeck Garcia gave an overview of TIWW’s history and detailed the development of three industry-wide metrics – greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, wages, and purchasing practices – to annually measure progress and drive action across the garment and footwear sector. She shared a snapshot of TIWW’s dashboard and explained how it synthesizes feedback and data from over 1,400 suppliers across 63 countries. She highlighted this year’s GHG scores, noting varied progress across the garment sector, with improvements in some areas and stagnation in others.
Griesbeck Garcia referenced insights from 2022 data provided by Cascale, Worldly, Textile Exchange, and Apparel Impact Institute (aii), which showed that emissions from the garment sector stood at 0.879 gigatons of CO2e. She noted that the Tier 2 stage was the biggest contributor, accounting for over 50 percent of the industry’s total emissions. Comparatively, the raw material stage contributed 21 percent, intermediate processing 15 percent, and finished product manufacturing 9 percent. Garcia emphasized the data showed a stagnating decrease in emissions, primarily due to efficiency improvements within the value chain being offset by a rise in material demand and an increase in fiber volumes.
Highlighting the impact of the climate crisis on regions crucial to the garment sector, Griesbeck Garcia asserted that to remain within the 1.5℃ climate target, the sector must achieve a 45 percent reduction by 2030 (based on a 2019 baseline year) and carbon neutrality by 2050. Griesbeck Garcia noted that the 1 percent decrease between the first and third cycles of the GHG emissions metric was a clear indication of the industry’s limited progress in reducing global warming.
Griesbeck Garcia asserted that the garment industry’s current mitigation efforts have failed to recognize the impacts of the climate crisis on workers and their communities. She called on stakeholders across the value chain to work towards a shared vision to build trust and enable collective action. Finally, she noted the need for industry-wide collaboration to support a power shift and systems change across the value chain, emphasizing that this is only possible if stakeholders come together to share successful and scalable solutions that amplify reach and effectiveness.
TIWW will be hosting its final Deep Dive of 2024, which will focus on the living wages metric. The panel will discuss how to tackle barriers to achieving living wages for workers along the value chain. It will explore the critical role of data and social dialogue in closing the wage gap, as well as the importance of worker involvement in shaping solutions. You can register here to join the discussion.
