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.
Ying McGuire, new Cascale CEO, will outline vision for industry collaboration and scalable impact at the 2026 Annual Meeting in Athens this September; program guidance from Bureau Veritas, Li & Fung (Trading), Nordstrom, Primark, Recover, and Textile Exchange
Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Oakland (CA) – June 17, 2026: Cascale today announced the program for its 2026 Annual Meeting, taking place September 15–17 in Athens, Greece. Bringing together more than 700 leaders from across the consumer goods value chain, the hybrid event will explore how the industry can more effectively distribute the costs, responsibilities, incentives, and benefits tied to supply chain transformation.
Celebrating the 15th edition of Cascale’s flagship convening, the Annual Meeting will feature more than 80 speakers, four stages of programming plus virtual access, and dedicated opportunities for executive-level engagement. Ying McGuire, who assumed the role of Cascale CEO on June 1, will take the stage to share her perspective on the next chapter for Cascale and the role of collective industry action to advance measurable environmental and social progress.
“As the industry navigates rising expectations alongside growing operational and economic pressures, collaboration must become more actionable, measurable, and business-driven,” said Ying McGuire, CEO, Cascale. “I see this Annual Meeting as an opportunity to convene leaders around a shared vision for progress — one where sustainability is embedded into core business strategy, supported by trusted data and aligned incentives, and capable of delivering value across the entire supply chain. My vision for Cascale is to help the industry build the partnerships and accountability needed to accelerate that transition at scale.”
Hosted at the InterContinental Athenaeum Athens, the 2026 Annual Meeting will focus on how companies across the value chain can align around practical approaches to financing and implementing sustainability initiatives while strengthening business resilience and competitiveness.
The agenda will bring together perspectives from brands, retailers, manufacturers, policymakers, NGOs, and solution providers to examine how the industry can move from fragmented efforts toward coordinated, scalable action.
“Progress depends on building greater consistency, transparency, and trust across the value chain. Ensuring representation from organizations working across compliance, verification, manufacturing, retail, and sustainability strategy helps create conversations that are grounded in operational realities while still pushing the industry toward more ambitious outcomes.” — Rick Horwitch, Bureau Veritas chief of supply chain & sustainability strategy & global retail lead and and 2026 Cascale Annual Meeting Program Advisory Group member
“Supply chain transformation requires deeper collaboration across every stage of production and sourcing.Cascale’s Annual meeting creates a space where manufacturers from all tiers, brands, sourcing organizations and solution providers to exchange practical experience, learn from one another, and develop scalable solutions to the shared challenges facing today’s and tomorrow’s consumer goods industry.” — Jonathan Salmon, Li & Fung (Trading) Limited head of sustainability and 2026 Cascale Annual Meeting Program Advisory Group member
“Brands and retailers have an important role to play in helping align market expectations, purchasing practices, and sustainability priorities. But meaningful transformation only happens when the full ecosystem is part of the discussion. A program shaped by diverse industry perspectives creates stronger opportunities for collaboration, accountability, and scalable impact.” — Liz Lipton-McCombie, Nordstrom head of ESG and sustainability and 2026 Cascale Annual Meeting Advisory Board member
“To move the industry forward, sustainability conversations must connect directly to business decision-making, operational execution, and long-term resilience. Having representation across the value chain and beyond — from manufacturers and recyclers to brands, retailers, and NGOs — ensures the program reflects both the complexity of the challenges and the practical pathways toward progress.” — Mark Newbold, Primark environmental sustainability programme lead and 2026 Cascale Annual Meeting Program Advisory Group member
“Manufacturers and material innovators are critical to translating industry ambition into real-world implementation. Ensuring these perspectives are represented alongside brands, retailers, NGOs, and service providers creates a more balanced dialogue around what is achievable, where investment is needed, and how the industry can accelerate scalable solutions together.” — Ana Rodes, head of sustainability at Recover™ and 2026 Cascale Annual Meeting Program Advisory Group member
“The challenges facing global supply chains cannot be solved by single actors, nor single perspectives. Bringing together voices from across the sector—NGOs, industry organizations, manufacturers, brands, retailers, and solution providers—means we are able to respond to these shared challenges collectively, and in a way that works for everyone. A strong program is one that enables those in the room to understand their role in driving meaningful progress, but also how they can support others to do so.” Monica Buchan-Ng, Textile Exchange industry activation lead and 2026 Cascale Annual Meeting Program Advisory Group member
Worldly, the sustainability and supply chain intelligence platform for consumer goods, is the event’s lead sponsor and will host a stage, sharing deep expertise on protecting against supply chain risk, compliance reporting, and the Higg Index, stewarded and governed by Cascale and powered globally by Worldly, which assesses and improves the social and environmental impact of producing and selling products.
Learn more and register for Cascale Annual Meeting 2026!
Organizations interested in elevating their presence and engaging directly with industry leaders are invited to explore sponsorship opportunities. To learn more about sponsorship packages or to express interest, please contact Cascale’s events team through this page.
Media Contact: Forster Communications, cascaleforster@forster.co.uk
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.
In this guest blog, Nate Herman, executive vice president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), shares why heat stress guidance matters now and what effective implementation will require across the value chain.
Key Takeaways:
Heat stress is not a new issue, but it’s accelerating at a pace that the apparel and footwear industry must take further action upon. It is influencing how factories operate, how companies think about worker well-being, and how supply chains prepare for operational disruption.
For an industry that produces globally and sells globally, heat stress has implications across sourcing, production, and business continuity.
That is why AAFA has been working with industry stakeholders to develop the AAFA Guide to Protecting Workers from Heat Stress, focusing on what it takes to move from awareness to practical implementation.
Over the past several years, companies have made incremental progress on social responsibility and environmental performance, yet not fast enough, as recent Cascale reports noted. Expectations across supply chains have also become more complex, and companies are managing more requirements than ever before.
Heat stress brings those pressures into sharper focus because at the center of this industry is – and always will be – people.
It affects workers directly. It affects production timelines. And it raises important questions about how expectations are set and applied across the value chain.
Across many major sourcing regions, rising temperatures and more frequent extreme heat conditions are making this issue harder to ignore, particularly in factory environments where ventilation, pace of work, and other workplace conditions can intensify risk.
The goal of this work is to help the industry move toward a more consistent and practical approach.
As part of this process, AAFA engaged dozens of stakeholders across the value chain. This included recent input gathered with support from Cascale, bringing in perspectives from both manufacturers and brands.
A few themes came through clearly. First, there is broad recognition that this is an important issue and that guidance can play a useful role.
Second, there is a strong focus on how that guidance is applied in practice. Manufacturers emphasized the need for approaches that reflect on-the-ground realities, including existing systems, operational constraints, and local conditions. Brands raised similar questions around how guidance can be integrated into current compliance programs without creating duplication or unintended consequences. Across both groups, there was a consistent message: clarity, consistency, and practicality matter.
The AAFA guidance is intended to help companies and facilities take a more structured approach to identifying, monitoring, and managing heat stress risks across the supply chain.
In practical terms, the guidance is designed to support companies in several areas, including:
It also encourages factories to establish heat thresholds, adjust workloads, and water and bathroom breaks in accordance with heat conditions, and strengthen alignment with applicable workplace health and labor requirements.
Just as important, based on recommendations from Cascale members and other stakeholders, the guidance emphasizes the importance of communication between buyers and suppliers, and between suppliers and their workers. Every decision to protect workers from heat stress can involve costs, impact production, affect workers, and change timelines. Regular communication between suppliers, buyers, and the workers themselves, is critical to make any effort to protect workers from heat stress a success.
The objective is to give companies guidance they can actually use — guidance that helps translate a growing body of research, policy attention, and industry concern into practical action on the factory floor.
As with any industry guidance, how it is used will ultimately determine its impact. That includes how expectations are communicated, how they are implemented at the facility level, and how companies work together when challenges arise. It also requires being mindful of unintended outcomes, such as additional audits, overlapping requests, delivery delays, additional costs, or requirements that are difficult to operationalize in practice. Getting this right will require continued dialogue across brands, manufacturers, and other stakeholders.
The AAFA Guide to Protecting Workers from Heat Stress is part of an ongoing effort. It will continue to evolve as the industry builds more experience and as conditions change.
AAFA will continue working with industry partners to refine the guidance and support implementation. For example, AAFA has planned an upcoming open industry webinar, “Implementing the AAFA Heat Guidance,” on May 19, which will provide an opportunity to walk through the guidance in more detail and discuss what practical implementation may look like across the value chain.
Efforts like those facilitated by Cascale are an important part of that process, helping to surface practical insights and ensure that a range of perspectives are reflected. Heat stress is a complex challenge, but it is one the industry is increasingly equipped to address. Progress will depend on alignment, collaboration, and a shared focus on what works in practice. By continuing to build on industry input and focusing on practical application, there is an opportunity to develop approaches that better support workers and strengthen the long-term resilience of global supply chains.
The 13th Asian Textile Conference was held in Hyderabad on April 2 to 3, convened by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry and the Government of Telangana.
Key Takeaways
At the 13th Asian Textile Conference (ATEXCON 2026) in Hyderabad, India, leaders from across the global textile value chain came together to explore how the industry can move from ambition to measurable progress. Convened by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry and the Government of Telangana, the event focused on “Reimagining the Future of Global Textiles,” offering a clear emphasis on collaboration, innovation, and practical execution.
Cascale’s Prasanth Nandakumar, stakeholder engagement manager
for APAC, contributed to a panel titled: “Advancing Circularity Through Shared Responsibility,” examining whether circularity is a vision, obligation, or business opportunity. The discussion reinforced a critical shift: circularity must move beyond pilot projects to scalable, commercially viable models.
Anjali Krishnan, director of cotton, circularity and decarbonization at IDH moderated the conversation which also brought together industry perspectives from Sundar Senthilnathan of H&M Group, Prasad Pant of Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), Vijaya Krishnappa of Kosha, N. Thirukkumaran of the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association, Girish of Sulochana, and Astha Kubele of Fashion For Good.
During the session, Nandakumar highlighted how the Higg Index tools support standardized measurement and benchmarking, helping organizations translate circularity goals into facility-level improvements. He also emphasized the role of policy alignment, referencing Cascale’s APAC Policy Priorities as a pathway to more enabling regulatory frameworks.
Across sessions, a consistent message emerged: the industry is entering a new phase shaped by both pressure and opportunity.
Participants pointed to several structural shifts. These included ongoing trade uncertainty, geopolitical dynamics, and margin pressures which are challenging traditional sourcing and production models. Global supply chains are becoming more diversified and resilient, with increased focus on speed, flexibility, and regional strategies. At the same time, transparency is becoming a baseline expectation. Growing regulatory requirements, particularly in the EU, are accelerating demand for traceability, verified data, and lower-impact production.
Noted during the session, technology is also redefining competitiveness. Speakers acknowledged a shift from cost-led models to speed, intelligence, and adaptability, driven by AI, automation, real-time data collection, and digital integration across manufacturing.
Despite structural gaps, there is progress being made. India’s strong performance in pre-consumer recycling highlights what is possible at scale, but post-consumer waste continues to present a significant challenge. This reinforces the need for coordinated action across the value chain, supported by credible data and aligned standards. India is positioning itself for significant growth in the textile sector by 2030, with a focus on man-made fibers, technical textiles, and value-added production. And regional hubs like Telangana are playing an important role in advancing manufacturing capabilities and innovation.
ATEXCON 2026 reflected a broader industry shift that Cascale is monitoring closely. The focus is moving from conversation to coordinated action, grounded in data, enabled by technology, and supported by regional partnerships and insights.
In this guest blog, Jayanth Kashyap, investment lead at Good Fashion Fund, outlines the industry’s structural gaps and how Cascale’s “Source of Good” podcast dives deeper.
Key Takeaways
The conversations that stay with me aren’t the ones about ambition. They’re the ones about friction. A small-to-medium-sized textile mill owner in Bangladesh who can’t access a long-term loan because their balance sheet doesn’t fit a bank’s credit model. A brand sustainability team that has committed to Scope 3 targets but can’t finance the transition for their Tier 2 suppliers. A policymaker designing carbon incentives without a clear picture of what manufacturers can absorb.
These aren’t isolated problems. They are symptoms of the same structural gap: capital, data, policy, and production are moving on separate tracks, at different speeds, with different incentives.
That’s the problem “Source of Good” takes seriously. It’s why I was glad to be part of the conversation in Season 3, and why I am excited to dive into Season 4, which launched this week. Good Fashion Fund works at this intersection, moving affordable capital to SME manufacturers in South and Southeast Asia who are ready to decarbonize but locked out of conventional finance and locked into high carbon assets. What we have found is that the technical and financial solutions largely exist. The harder problem is alignment, and brands have a real role to play here, not just as buyers setting sustainability requirements, but as co-investors in the transition. When brands, capital providers, and manufacturers are pulling in the same direction, individual deals stop being one-offs and start becoming a scalable model.
“Source of Good” doesn’t treat these as parallel conversations. And that’s because the link between supply chain due diligence, procurement decisions, and investment flows isn’t incidental. It’s structural, and none of it holds if workers aren’t part of the conversation. Inclusive progress isn’t a downstream outcome but a condition for the transition to be durable at all. Ultimately, this won’t be driven by any single actor getting it right. It will happen when enough actors stop optimizing in isolation.
The Hong Kong event convened 130 senior executives from across the consumer goods industry highlighting shared supply chain risk and unmet manufacturer solutions.
Key Takeaways
Cascale recently contributed to Schneider Electric Perspectives Day Asia in Hong Kong, convening 150 senior executives from across the consumer goods industry. The event brought together leaders in sustainability, finance, energy, and supply chain to explore practical pathways to net-zero.
Nicole Lee-Kauer, manager of Cascale’s Manufacturer Climate Action Program (MCAP), joined a breakout panel called “Advancing Supply Chain Decarbonization: Leveraging Data, System Interoperability, and Regulatory Compliance,” injecting learnings from the Manufacturer Climate Action Program (MCAP), now in its fifth cohort.
The 18-month program is a pivotal initiative that unifies global manufacturers to combat climate change across the consumer goods industry, driving sustainable change through science-aligned targets (SATs). Engaging over 85 manufacturers to date, the program is open to all manufacturers looking to accelerate the adoption of science-aligned GHG reduction targets within their Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Manufacturers and brands can register for the informational webinar April 21 (register now).
Across the event, a clear theme was present: accountability. Organizations are increasingly integrating climate risk into enterprise-wide risk management, rather than treating it as a standalone sustainability topic. Companies such as Philippines‑based conglomerate Ayala and hotel chain Marriott are embedding climate considerations into governance structures, linking performance to executive decision-making and incentives. This reflects growing alignment between sustainability and financial accountability.
Discussions with brands and retailers, including Japanese beverage retailer Asahi, Henderson Land, and Hong Kong Land reinforced that manufacturers face similar decarbonization challenges across sectors. These shared barriers point to the importance of collective action, aligned tools, and consistent data to drive progress at scale.
A separate session offered insights from FairPrice Group’s supplier decarbonization program. There was strong alignment with Cascale’s MCAP, particularly in terms of the program’s approach to target-setting and capacity building. For example, FairPrice’s use of a supplier segmentation model and structured training offers a practical example of how brands can engage manufacturers more effectively.
At the same time, their experience underscores the role of enabling environments. Public funding, supportive policy frameworks, and cross-border partnerships are key accelerators for supplier decarbonization. These learnings present opportunities to further strengthen MCAP, including the potential development of a simple self-assessment tool to help manufacturers evaluate readiness for programs like MCAP or science-based targets.
In all, events like Perspectives Day Asia reinforce Cascale’s role not only as a convener, bringing diverse perspectives in consumer goods, but also as a contributor to cross-industry dialogue.
For years, industry focus was on cost, speed, and efficiency. That hasn’t gone away, but it’s no longer enough.
Key Takeaways
There’s a noticeable shift happening in how global supply chains are being assessed.
For years, the focus was largely on cost, speed, and efficiency. That hasn’t gone away, but it’s no longer enough. Increasingly, companies are being asked to show not just what they produce, but how they produce it. Environmental impact, working conditions, traceability, and the credibility of underlying data are all moving into the spotlight.
Show, don’t tell. That’s the insistence behind the latest investigatory probes.
You can see this shift playing out across multiple fronts. Trade enforcement measures are starting to look more closely at how manufacturing systems operate today and what factors fueled their current scale. At the same time, sustainability regulations, due diligence requirements, and product-level transparency initiatives are expanding in parallel, particularly in key markets like the EU and Asia — reinforcing expectations on companies to demonstrate credible, comparable data across their value chains. These are not isolated developments. Together, they point to a clear direction of travel: supply chains are becoming more accountable, and expectations are rising.
For businesses, this changes the operating model.
Access to markets is increasingly tied to the ability to demonstrate credible performance. It’s no longer just about meeting internal targets or publishing a report. Companies need to be able to show consistent, comparable, and verifiable data across complex global value chains. That is a much higher bar.
But while government expectations are becoming clearer, the way the industry is responding is not. Most companies are still navigating a fragmented landscape. Different frameworks, different methodologies, different reporting requests, often asking for similar information in slightly different ways. For suppliers, this can mean managing multiple audits, duplicative data submissions, and competing requirements from different customers.
This is where the real risk – and opportunity – sits. According to Better Buying’s 2025 Win-Win Sustainable Partnerships report, 67.9 percent of suppliers reported cost savings of $5,000 or more by using a common framework such as the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP)’s Convergence Assessment Framework (CAF). The CAF underpins Cascale’s Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM).
Without undue burden of duplicate audits, suppliers put this money towards workplace investments, worker programs, new technology, community support, environmental certifications, higher wages, and improved financial outlook. It’s easy to assume that regulation is the main challenge. In reality, the bigger issue is how fragmented industry responses are making it harder to meet those growing expectations. Misaligned frameworks are now a cost driver. They increase the burden on suppliers, create inefficiencies across value chains, and make it harder to generate insights that are actually useful for decision-making.
You end up with more data, but not necessarily better data. And at a time when policy expectations are increasing, that’s a problem.
If companies are going to meet rising expectations from governments, regulators, investors, and consumers alike, alignment needs to move higher up the agenda. Not as a nice-to-have, but as a practical way to reduce complexity and improve outcomes.
The data speaks for itself. Aligned approaches to measurement and reporting can help cut through duplication. They create a shared understanding of performance, improve comparability, and make it easier to translate regulatory requirements into operational reality. They also support more efficient collaboration between brands and manufacturers, which is where much of the real work happens.
This is where industry collaboration becomes critical.
No single company can solve fragmentation on its own. The scale and complexity of global supply chains mean that progress depends on shared approaches and common reference points. When companies align around consistent methodologies and shared frameworks, it reduces friction and allows effort to be focused where it matters most: improving performance.
That’s the opportunity that appeals to everyone from chief sustainability and procurement officers to chief financial officers.
The direction of travel is clear. Supply chain accountability is increasing, and it will continue to do so. The question now is whether the systems supporting it evolve at the same pace.
Cascale brings real-world insight to sports-product management students on aligning sourcing strategies with climate action and decent work.
Cascale brings real-world insight to sports-product management students on aligning sourcing strategies with climate action and decent work.
This week, Cascale’s Joleen Ong, senior director, brand and retailer membership, joined the University of Oregon Sports Product Management (SPM) graduate program to explore how sustainability is operationalized across global supply chains — and why sourcing and costing decisions matter for both climate and decent work outcomes.
Ong was a guest lecturer at the sourcing and costing strategies course led by instructor Eric Goldner, where 48 graduate students explored the intersection of purchasing practices, environmental performance, and the impacts of tariffs. Goldner is a seasoned supply chain executive with over 25 years of experience at major brands including Nike, Coach, and Columbia Sportswear, while Ong worked in the outdoor and sporting goods industry – first at Columbia Sportswear, then Fanatics – before joining and leading Cascale’s brand and retailer membership. She gave a compelling lecture on the sourcing challenges faced by sustainability professionals.
A Deeper Dive on Sourcing Challenges
Following an overview of recent U.S. tariff developments, Ong’s session explored Cascale’s role in convening brands, manufacturers, and stakeholders to align on credible tools and shared standards. She also uncovered real-world sourcing and costing case examples from industry experience at Columbia Sportswear and Fanatics. Using a factory audit walkthrough, Ong highlighted how common social and environmental violations are often symptoms of poor purchasing and planning decisions. Finally, she touched on the role of responsible purchasing and Better Buying approaches in addressing root causes and strengthening decent work across supply chains.
Throughout the session, students demonstrated strong engagement and thoughtful questions about how collective action can move the industry from compliance to measurable impact.
Importance to Industry
The University of Oregon Sports Product Management Program was co-founded by former Nike leader Ellen Schmidt-Devlin and prepares talent for the sports and outdoor industry. The specialized, industry-partnered program teaches the full product creation lifecycle, supported by advisory board participation from brands, manufacturers, and organizations such as Cascale, where Ong has served as an advisory board member since 2024.The curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning through its Portland-based innovation lab, located in a city widely recognized as a global hub for the footwear and athletic apparel industry, often referred to as the “sneaker capital of America.” Approximately 90 percent of alumni work within the industry.
Engaging with academia helps connect Cascale’s work to the next generation of sourcing, product, and sustainability leaders. It also reinforces a key message: decisions made upstream – across areas like planning, costing, and purchasing – directly shape environmental performance, worker outcomes, and long-term business resilience.
Several students expressed interest in future internship opportunities, signaling strong alignment between emerging talent and the industry’s growing focus on credible, collective sustainability solutions.
The lecture follows a series of Cascale student engagements including speaking opportunities at Parsons, the Ohio State University (via the Educators for Socially-Responsible Apparel Practices (ESRAP)), and more this quarter.
Resilience narratives that focus on individual preparedness are short-sighted. A system built on cooperation is necessary for sustainable supply chains.
Resilience narratives that focus on individual preparedness are short-sighted. A system built on cooperation is necessary for sustainable supply chains.
Each year, the Global Risks Report offers a snapshot of how leaders around the world see the near and long-term risk landscape evolving. The 2026 edition, published by the World Economic Forum, is not a radical departure from previous years. Climate change remains a defining risk. Economic pressure, geopolitical fragmentation, and social stress continue to intensify. What feels different this year is not the diagnosis, but the clarity of the signal.
The risks shaping the global economy are increasingly interconnected, mutually reinforcing, and deeply embedded in the systems that underpin consumer goods supply chains. For our industry, this is no longer a future-facing warning. It is a description of current operating conditions.
The report highlights how environmental, economic, and geopolitical risks are converging rather than occurring in isolation. For consumer goods companies, this convergence is most visible in manufacturing regions, where climate exposure, regulatory change, cost volatility, and labor pressures are felt at the same time, often by the same actors.
Suppliers today are navigating rising energy costs while being asked to decarbonize, manage water scarcity, comply with new due diligence legislation, and respond to shifting demand patterns. These pressures are not sequential. They are simultaneous. When viewed through that lens, the risks described in the Global Risks Report – like geoeconomics confrontation, state-based conflict, and extreme weather – are not abstract global forces. They are practical constraints shaping day-to-day decisions across value chains.
This matters because risk exposure is no longer limited to operational continuity. It now extends directly into financial performance, regulatory compliance, brand trust, and long-term access to supply.
One of the less explicit but most important messages in the report is how fragmentation increases vulnerability. As global systems become more politically divided, the burden of complexity grows. Nowhere is this more evident than in supply chains.
Multiple regulatory regimes, overlapping reporting requirements, and unaligned standards increase cost and dilute focus. When brands and retailers pursue disconnected approaches to climate action or responsible purchasing, suppliers absorb the complexity. The result is not greater resilience, but higher risk concentration at the most vulnerable points in the system.
The report implicitly challenges the idea that risk can be managed through isolated, company-by-company strategies. In a tightly coupled global system, fragmented responses often create new points of failure rather than reducing exposure.
Another clear takeaway from the 2026 report is the limitation of resilience narratives that focus on individual preparedness without addressing system-level design. While company-level risk management remains essential, it is no longer sufficient on its own.
Supplier resilience cannot be built brand by brand when suppliers serve dozens of customers with differing expectations, timelines, and data requests. Climate risk cannot be reduced through parallel, uncoordinated decarbonization efforts that compete for the same limited resources. Regulatory readiness cannot be achieved when suppliers are required to respond to multiple interpretations of similar rules.
The report points toward a simple but often uncomfortable conclusion. In an interconnected risk environment, coordination becomes a core risk mitigation strategy.
This is where the implications for the consumer goods industry become practical. The Global Risks Report does not prescribe solutions, but it makes clear that effective responses must operate at the level of systems, not just organizations.
For the industry, this means prioritizing approaches that reduce duplication, align expectations, and support suppliers in navigating transition pressures. It means investing in shared tools and data frameworks that enable comparability and credibility. It also means recognizing that responsible purchasing practices are not only a social issue, but a structural lever for risk reduction and long-term resilience.
These are not abstract ideals. They are business necessities in a context where risk is increasingly collective in nature.
Cascale exists to help the industry respond to exactly this kind of challenge. Not by positioning itself as the solution, but by enabling alignment where fragmentation increases risk.
Through shared tools, common metrics, and collaborative programs, Cascale helps members move from risk awareness to coordinated action. This includes supporting credible climate action that is grounded in data, advancing responsible purchasing practices that improve supplier stability, and reducing the reporting burden on manufacturers through greater alignment.
In a world where global risks are converging, the ability to act collectively and consistently across value chains becomes a competitive advantage. Cascale’s role is to support that shift, turning ambition into measurable progress while keeping the realities faced by manufacturers firmly in view.
One report quote reinforces this plainly for us: “In a world with greater competition, [cooperation] may be harder to achieve, but only by rebuilding trust and new forms of collaborative mechanisms can leaders steer us towards greater resilience and help shape a more stable future.”
The 2026 Global Risks Report reinforces three messages that are particularly relevant for consumer goods companies.
First, global risk is no longer external to supply chains. It is embedded within them, shaping cost, capacity, and continuity.
Second, fragmentation carries a rising price. The cost of unaligned approaches is increasingly borne by suppliers, and ultimately reflected back in business performance and risk exposure.
Third, collective action is becoming a core business capability. Not a values statement, and not a communications exercise, but a practical response to a risk environment that no single organization can manage alone.
The Global Risks Report is, in many ways, a mirror. It reflects the reality that many in the industry already recognize. The challenge now is not whether we understand the risks, but whether we are willing to respond in ways that match their scale and interconnected nature.
Cascale will continue working with members to translate global risk into practical, aligned action across consumer goods supply chains. Join us.
Cascale’s global membership manager, Peony Tam, represented Cascale at two events in Asia focused on advancing sustainability in consumer goods supply chains through collaboration, data, and education.
Last month, Peony Tam, Cascale’s global membership manager, represented Cascale at two events in Asia focused on advancing sustainability in consumer goods supply chains through collaboration, data, and education.
Hosted by Huali Group, one of the world’s largest footwear manufacturers and a key supplier to brands such as Nike and Puma, Tam joined more than 90 strategic material suppliers to discuss the future of sustainable manufacturing.
In her remarks, Tam introduced Cascale and the Higg Index — the industry’s leading suite of tools for measuring environmental and social impact, exclusively available on Worldly — and highlighted Cascale’s role in empowering manufacturers to improve their ESG performance.
She emphasized Cascale’s commitment to combating climate change, aligning closely with Huali’s sustainability priorities, and underscored how Cascale provides guidance, programs, and a platform for manufacturers’ voices to be heard. The session fostered new understanding of how collective data-driven approaches can strengthen transparency and resilience across global supply chains.
In a separate event, Tam returned to her alma mater, Hong Kong Baptist University, as a guest lecturer in the university’s course on corporate social responsibility and stakeholder engagement.
Building on her professional journey from student to sustainability practitioner, Tam spoke to over 40 undergraduate students from the School of Communications, about how Cascale and its partners — including Textile Exchange, ZDHC, and the Apparel Impact Institute — work together to transform the consumer goods industry through the Higg Index tools and capacity-building programs.
During an interactive exercise, students mapped industry stakeholders using Cascale’s membership network, exploring how collaboration among brands, manufacturers, NGOs, and solution providers can drive measurable progress. The session concluded with a call to action, encouraging students to stay engaged in the sustainability field and explore careers that connect purpose with impact.
