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Building Balance and Equity at Cascale: A Look Ahead

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Tools / Brand & Retail Tools

Brand & Retail Tools

Identify opportunities for continuous sustainability improvement in company operations

For brands and retailers of all shapes and sizes throughout the textile, apparel and footwear industry.

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How It Works

The Higg Brand & Retail Module (Higg BRM) aligns with relevant frameworks and regulations in the industry, such as Textile Exchange’s Material Change Index, and the ZDHC Brands to Zero program. In doing so, brands and retailers can build consistent corporate sustainability strategies to deliver more effectively on their ESG goals and industry needs.

    The Higg BRM assesses sustainability performance across 11 key impact areas within three pillars:
  • 01
    Environmental
    • Biodiversity
    • Climate
    • Chemicals
    • Waste
    • Water
  • 02
    Social
    • Workers
    • Employees
    • Consumer
    • Communities
  • 03
    Governance
    • Structure & Management
    • Ethics & Behavior

Key Benefits

The Higg BRM aims to set the global standard for transparency and be the leading industry-specific ESG framework

Assess business sustainability performance against the most relevant ESG issues in the industry

Understand sustainability priorities and benchmark performance against similar companies in the sector

Standardize progress and reporting against leading frameworks and regulations, whilst also reducing the reporting burden

Get clear, consistent and transparent scoring that gives internal and external stakeholders credible information on sustainability objectives and achievements

Get Started with the Higg BRM

Brands and Retailers can use the Higg Index tools without formally becoming a member of Cascale. However, as a member, you receive access to exclusive community support, educational experiences and collaborative opportunities.

Benefits of Joining Our Community Access the Higg BRM
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Frequently Asked Questions

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  • What is the verification process for the Brand & Retailer Module?
    Higg BRM verification logo   After an organization has completed the Self-Assessment, they can then work towards externally verifying the BRM to ensure their organization’s data is accurate. The process of verification is generally similar to other sustainability report assurance/verification processes and is initiated with an approved verifier once the complete BRM Self-Assessment has been submitted. Cascale has a list of approved verifying bodies.  Members and users currently are not required to pay a Higg BRM Verification Access Fee. Cascale reserves the right to change the Verification Access Fee process in the future.
  • How does the scoring methodology work in the Brand & Retailer Module?
    In practice, each question in the BRM 2022 is worth a specific number of points out of 100. The number of points a question is worth depend on the survey taker’s type — i.e. Brand, Retailer, Brand & Retailer. Since each type answers a different number of questions, their possible question scores will vary. It is important to note that in the BRM assessment all questions, except the data submission requests, are scored and visible.
  • What can be shared about the Brand & Retailer Module results?
    Placing value and communicating ESG initiatives can be extremely complicated, so BRM results can help companies explain their actions in a more comparable and transparent way. Self-Assessment results can be shared internally and externally with wider stakeholders; the Self-Assessment (verified or unverified) together with the scores can also be shared on the Worldly platform with business partners and suppliers who are Higg Index users. As a user you may request BRM results from the partners with whom you work; this information can be used as part of any risk, procurement, or contractual guidelines you may have regarding sustainability. It is important to note that any wider public communication of BRM results will only be enabled once an organization’s score has been verified by an Approved Verifier. While we encourage all BRM data to be as transparent as possible, we aim to keep scores balanced, trusted, and credible, which is why only verified results may be publicly disclosed, following our Communication Guidelines.
  • What results does the Brand & Retailer Module provide?
    The BRM has been designed to create an industry specific method to report on ESG performance. By completing the assessment, brands and retailers are able to understand their ESG progress. They will also be able to share this with internal and external stakeholders by following the Communications Guidelines. After completing the BRM, a company receives the following results.
    • One Total Score – Each completed BRM Self-Assessment will result in one finite score out of 100 presented as a percentage. This score is simple to communicate and easy to understand; it can be used to benchmark the organization against peers and share with consumers.
    • ESG Scores – In addition, each company will receive a score for each pillar of activity – Environment, Social and Governance – with detailed scores on each impact area within the pillar. This is a useful way to show how the company is progressing in each area.
    Any communication of BRM Assessment results must follow the Communications Guidelines.

Resources

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