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Higg Index Tools / Higg Brand & Retail Tool

Higg Brand & Retail Tool

The Higg Brand & Retail Module (Higg BRM) helps brands and retailers of textiles, apparel, and footwear identify opportunities for continuous sustainability improvement in company operations.

As a leading industry-specific ESG framework, the Higg BRM aims to help brands and retailers build corporate sustainability strategies to deliver more effectively on their ESG goals and industry needs.

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The Higg BRM

The Higg BRM delivers clear, consistent, and transparent scoring on sustainability objectives and achievements, assessing performance against industry-specific ESG metrics to help businesses benchmark with their peers. And it aligns with relevant industry frameworks and regulations – such as Textile Exchange’s Material Change Index and the ZDHC Brands to Zero program – to reduce reporting burdens.

The tool 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

BRM 2025

We’re excited to announce that the Higg BRM 2025 is now live on Worldly’s platform! As an integral ESG framework, the Higg BRM is designed to support long-term strategy development, internal benchmarking, and the shift from measurement to meaningful action. The Higg BRM 2025 cadence will run from March 3 – June 30 2026.

What’s new?

  • Company Profile: members are required to complete specific Cascale membership requirement questions within this section.
  • Technical Refinements: minor updates to enhance usability and clarity.

Cascale remains committed to continuous improvement. By responding to your feedback and industry shifts, the Higg BRM continues to serve as a relevant and up-to-date framework within the sustainability landscape.

Learn More

Communicating Your Higg Index Performance

Cascale provides guidelines on sharing your Higg Index performance as part of any business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) communications. Please review the Higg Index Communication Guidelines below for more information.

Benefits of Joining Our Community Access the Higg BRM Download the Communication Guidelines (How to Higg Website)

Accessing the Higg Brand & Retail Module

The Higg Index Tools are owned by Cascale and exclusively available on Worldly, the leading platform for sustainability data and analytics in consumer goods supply chains. Although Cascale members benefit from exclusive community support, educational experiences, and collaborative opportunities, the Higg Index suite of tools can be accessed through Worldly without Cascale membership.

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   Cascale maintains a list of approved verifying bodies and the process of verification is generally similar to other sustainability report assurance/verification processes. Verification is initiated once the complete Higg BRM Self-Assessment has been submitted.  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 Higg BRM?
    Each question in the Higg BRM contributes a specific number of points towards the total score of 100, with the value depending on the user’s path, the location of the question within the assessment, and the total number of questions in that section. After completing the Higg BRM, the user receives the following results:
    • One Total Score (out of 100), presented as a percentage.
    • ESG Scores for each pillar of activity – Environment, Social and Governance – with detailed scores on each impact area within the pillar.
    Since each user type – Brand, Retailer, Brand & Retailer – answers a different number of questions, possible scores vary. With the exception of data submission requests, all questions are scored and visible to the user.
  • How does the Higg BRM align with the CSRD?
    To learn more about how the Higg BRM aligns with CSRD, review our white paper and mapping. In this paper, we articulate exactly how the Higg Brand and Retail Module (Higg BRM) can assist brands and retailers (undertakings) in fulfilling their reporting requirements under the European Union’s (EU) Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), while also helping to develop consistent corporate sustainability strategies and avoid duplication across sustainability initiatives.

Resources

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