Press Releases / Sustainable Apparel Coalition Launches Higg FEM 4.0

Sustainable Apparel Coalition Launches Higg FEM 4.0

Higg FEM
Higg Index Tools

Rear view of female workers working at sewing machines in clothing factory in a row

November 02, 2023

San Francisco, Amsterdam, Hong Kong – November 2, 2023: Today, in partnership with Worldly, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) launched the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) 4.0 tool. This update marks an industry milestone in sustainability reporting to meet pressing environmental issues and industry standards, positioning Higg FEM 4.0, part of the Higg Index suite of tools, as the most applicable and leading assessment for environmental performance in the consumer goods industry.

Enabling more accurate reporting
As well as offering improved and more streamlined usability, Higg FEM 4.0 delivers better data quality. Featuring a new anomaly detector designed to flag inconsistencies, Higg FEM 4.0 provides more accurate reporting, ultimately enabling a more accurate environmental assessment of the industry.

Broader coverage of critical environmental issues
The tool also offers a deeper look at key environmental issues such as groundwater and soil contamination to help the industry make improvements at a global scale on critical issues. The new tool aligns with key global standards – including the GHG Protocol, the SBTi, and ZDHC Roadmap to Zero – to drive emissions reductions and reduce duplicative reporting. Additionally, Higg FEM 4.0 includes targeted questions that are more relevant to a facility’s processes, weeding out questions that are irrelevant.

Jeremy Lardeau, VP of the SAC Higg Index says, “Higg FEM 4.0 will bring impactful and necessary changes – from improved data quality to alignment with relevant industry standards, the updated tool offers a wide range of benefits to ultimately reshape how sustainable decisions are made along the supply chain.”

Industry led update
Higg FEM 4.0 was built on member and stakeholder feedback collected over the past two years It reflects the input of over 140 representatives across 12 Member Expert Teams (METs), including 62 representing manufacturers, 57 representing brands/retailers, 10 service providers, and five representing affiliate members. The METs, the FEM Strategic Council, partner organizations, and members all provided insights and feedback. The insights collected helped to shape the FEM framework, scoring methodology, question content, and more to build a tool that meets relevant industry standards and protocol. Additionally, Higg FEM 4.0 was tested by over 400 users who provided feedback within the platform. The SAC is excited for end users and stakeholders to experience the widespread benefits of Higg FEM 4.0, and empower them to identify, prioritize and scale sustainability efforts.

Jimmy Summers, Vice President of Environmental, Health, Safety & Sustainability, at Elevate Textiles: “Elevate Textiles is looking forward to the release of Higg FEM 4.0. Higg FEM is an essential part of transparently sharing our verified sustainability metrics and progress with our customers. We also use Higg FEM as a foundational element of our overall sustainability program to ensure that all of our facilities around the world are meeting our expectations and improving their performance towards our facility-level and corporate goals and targets, including our Science-Based Targets for GHG reductions. We actively participated in the Higg FEM 4.0 pilot and are now prepared to ‘raise the bar’ with this more rigorous and beneficial version.”

Alan Chin, Senior Manager, Supply Chain Sustainability, at VF Corporation: “At VF, the Higg FEM assessment enables the company and our brands to measure key Scope 3 supplier-related impacts. VF teams, along with the SAC staff, engage directly with our vendor partners to assess and improve supplier carbon emissions. We are excited about the enhanced ability of the updated Higg FEM 4.0 to deliver actionable data and insights, enabling VF to support impact reductions across our global supply chain.”

James Schaffer, Worldly’s Chief Strategy Officer: “Higg FEM 4.0 is a game changer. In an industry with rapid change in impact reporting and regulation disclosure requirements, Higg FEM 4.0 directly addresses the current sustainability challenges and future needs businesses are facing. We’re proud to host this leading environmental assessment on the Worldly platform and provide businesses the impact intelligence they need. With new customized user experiences for facilities, Higg FEM 4.0 is an assessment tailored to facilities that gives brands visibility into the nuanced impact of their supply chain partners, so together they can identify hotspots and effectively improve their environmental footprint.”

Kyle Chung, Senior Manager – Sustainability, at Crystal International: “Crystal International’s sustainability efforts are strengthened by industry tools like Higg FEM to enhance environmental performance. Collaborating with our supplier network to leverage Higg FEM data and insights, we can make informed decisions to drive sustainability advancement across our operations and value chain. With the launch of the updated tool, we are better equipped to address the industry’s most pressing issues.”

— ENDS —

About the Higg FEM Tool
The Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) tool informs manufacturers, brands, and retailers about the environmental performance of their individual facilities, empowering them to scale sustainability improvements. The Higg FEM provides facilities a clear picture of environmental impacts and helps users identify and prioritize opportunities for performance improvements.

About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is a global, non-profit alliance of over 280 organizations in the apparel, footwear, and textile industry. Initially formed to create standardized sustainability metrics, the SAC has sharpened its focus to driving pre-competitive, collective action across three foundational pillars. As an independent entity, the SAC brings together brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, academics, and industry associations to combat climate change, ensure decent work, and contribute to a nature-positive future. Central to the SAC’s mission is the Higg Index, a suite of comprehensive tools that empower members to measure, evaluate, and improve sustainability performance across the supply chain.

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About Worldly
Worldly is the planet’s most comprehensive impact intelligence platform, trusted by 40,000+ major brands, retailers, and manufacturers in fashion, outdoor, home goods, toys, and more. Worldly uniquely collects high-resolution primary data specific to companies’ value chains, operations, and products, providing insight into true impacts across carbon, water, chemistry, and labor. Featuring the most comprehensive source of ESG data for global manufacturers and the largest library of materials and product impacts, Worldly empowers businesses to scale responsibility into their global operations, faster and more accurately. Hosting, connecting with, and supporting the leading industry solutions and methodologies including ZDHC, Bluesign, and the Higg Index – the most widely-adopted measure of sustainability in the apparel industry – Worldly delivers the insights businesses need to reduce their impact, comply with emerging regulatory and financial disclosure requirements, and meet the expectations of a new generation of customers. www.worldly.io

For media enquiries or to request an interview, please contact: Florence@forster.co.uk or joeldelgesso@forster.co.uk

News Updates / GIZ Hosts Higg FEM 4.0 Webinar

GIZ Hosts Higg FEM 4.0 Webinar

Higg FEM
Higg Index Tools

Photo of women working at a factory in a row

October 31, 2023

The German Agency for International Cooperation, the service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development, recently hosted a webinar to highlight key changes between Higg FEM 3.0 and the forthcoming Higg FEM 4.0. Moderated by Rakesh Vazirani, head of sustainability services for business stream products, the webinar included Angela Ng, director of Higg Facility tools, in conversation with Mohammad Abdul Qaium, sustainability manager at OVS S.p.a., and Arunhariharan B S, sustainability analyst at Eastman Exports Global Clothing. The discussion was designed to educate attendees about what additional data manufacturers should start collecting for Higg FEM 4.0 in order to be better positioned to complete the self-assessment and verification, as well as how to best use the tool to drive impact. “The industry overall has certain goals for sustainability,” Vazirani said. “There are goals with regards to reduction of emissions, there are goals with regards to reduction of freshwater, and there are goals with regards to ensuring that biodiversity is not being negatively impacted. And of course the big picture goal is to have a circular textile value chain.”

Although the subject matter was high-level and technical, Ng noted the deep level of collaboration between SAC members that culminated in the update. “We spent the last two to three years working with over hundreds of members, stakeholders and facility users to collect feedback on the tool framework, scoring methodologies and all the questions’ content,” Ng said. “These insights coming from our key Member Expert Teams and Strategic Councils helped us identify gaps in regulations, industry standards and needs and incorporate these into the new version of the Higg FEM 4.0.”

As Ng detailed, this work fits into the SAC’s broader vision of “Evolution for Impact” to drive scalable solutions for industry-wide decarbonization. As Qaium shared, OVS demonstrated this by introducing a Sustainability Linked Bond in 2021 and setting goals to achieve a 21 percent reduction in carbon emissions and ensure that 100 percent of their suppliers use the Higg FEM and Higg FSLM, with 80 percent of their volume verified by 2024.

Ng also explained framing around key changes to Higg FEM 4.0, including an increase in data points: Over 70 unique data points are part of the Higg FEM 4.0 update, including site permits, energy, water, emissions, waste and chemical management. Although industry progress is gradually improving -– the percentage of users meeting Higg FEM foundational requirements was 19 percent in 2022, versus 15 percent in 2021 -– Ng emphasized that the SAC views Higg FEM 4.0 as a game-changer for industry-wide progress. Through a single shared facility assessment tool, Higg FEM 4.0 is designed to reduce facility third-party assessments, fuel better quality data and align industry benchmarking. As Arunhariharan detailed, once the Higg FEM is adapted to the user’s facility, they will be able to set targets and understand barriers to achieving them.

Ng also touched on how the Higg FEM 4.0 aligns with key industry standards -– including the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, Science-Based Targets initiative, and Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals Roadmap to Zero -– as well as how the updated tool zeroes in on the most critical environmental impacts like groundwater contamination to ensure that it reflects the key impact areas where businesses need to evaluate and address current challenges.

Additionally, she talked about the improved assessment relevance. Through improved applicability criteria, users will now only see questions relevant to their specific operations, so they can spend less time on assessment questions that are irrelevant to them.

Finally, she discussed how the findings from Higg FEM 4.0 can be applied at scale. Once facility impacts are known, volume can be allocated to low-carbon suppliers -– a tactic that is already being seen among industry players. For example, Ng shared a recent analysis of Higg FEM data by carbon management company Reset Carbon which found the top 1,500 facilities contribute to around 79 percent of total emissions or some 82.8 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. In the best case scenario, the industry can see an estimated 10 to 25 percent carbon reduction by shifting sourcing. By tapping insights from Higg FEM 4.0, devoting jobs to the most sustainable suppliers, the hope is that industry players see drastic improvement.

The SAC has scheduled a series of events that focus on the Higg FEM 4.0 update, including a webinar on November 7 and an APAC session on November 8.

Trainings / Higg FEM 4.0 Training

Higg FEM 4.0 Training

This training provided users of the Higg FEM the opportunity to better understand the changes that will be made as we transition from the Higg FEM 3.0 to the Higg FEM 4.0.

Photo of a young female tailor working in a textile factory

Date & Time

June 14 2023 | 10:00 - 13:00

Location

Milan

Publications / Technical Review of the Higg MSI and Higg PM Tools

Technical Review of the Higg MSI and Higg PM Tools

Higg PM
Higg MSI
Higg Index Tools

We are grateful to KPMG for their work in developing this report, which captures the invaluable insights and recommendations derived from the expert review of the Higg MSI and Higg PM tools.

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September 26, 2023

News Updates / Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Worldly Share Higg FEM 4.0 Webpage Ahead of Launch

Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Worldly Share Higg FEM 4.0 Webpage Ahead of Launch

Higg Index Tools
Higg FEM

September 21, 2023

The SAC is excited to launch the Higg FEM 4.0 in November, providing a transformative shift in sustainability reporting for manufacturing facilities, brands and retailers. This dynamic tool has the potential to significantly change how and why decisions are made within the industry, and we want to make sure you have everything you need ahead of November’s launch. In partnership with Worldly, the SAC is excited to share a dedicated Higg FEM 4.0 webpage to bring you all the latest resources, key dates and updated information —all in one place.

Higg FEM 4.0: Major Updates
Updating Higg FEM 4.0 was a highly collaborative effort among SAC members. Over the past two years, we’ve worked with over 100 members to collect feedback on tool framework, scoring methodology and content. Insights from key Member Engagement Teams and the Strategic Council helped us to identify gaps in regulations, industry standards and needs, and incorporate member insights in order to significantly evolve the tool.

We view Higg FEM 4.0 as a gamechanger — here’s why:

Reduction of third-party assessments: through a single shared facility assessment tool, Higg FEM 4.0 is designed to reduce facility third-party assessments.
Better data quality: the Higg FEM 4.0 incorporates years of feedback, providing more detailed and more relevant data. The changes within the Higg FEM 4.0 tool were made as a direct result from member and user requests for more precise and accurate information, and we’re excited that the tool includes a new anomaly detector, designed to identify errors in real time.
Alignment with global industry standards: Higg FEM 4.0 aligns with key industry standards, including the GHG Protocol, Science-Based Targets initiative, and ZDHC Roadmap to Zero.
Expansion of environmental issues: the update covers more relevant environmental impacts — such as groundwater contamination — to ensure the tool reflects key impact areas businesses need to evaluate and addresses current challenges.
Improved assessment relevance: through improved applicability criteria, users will now only see questions relevant to their specific operations, so they can spend less time on assessment questions that are irrelevant to them.
Significant platform feature improvements: in addition to the new anomaly detector, Higg FEM 4.0 also offers easier access to guidance, optimized data exports, and an expanded online training library.

How to Prepare for Higg FEM 4.0
To help users prepare for Higg FEM 4.0, we’re thrilled to introduce a consolidated webpage where manufacturers, brands and supply chain partners can access important resources and critical information. In partnership with Worldly, we’ve developed a Higg FEM 4.0 webpage as a one-stop resource for all Higg FEM 4.0 announcements and training materials.

Visit https://go.worldly.io/learn-about-higg-fem-4.0 to learn more about the Higg FEM 4.0 update and explore need-to-know information ahead of the launch in November.

Key webpage features include:

Training materials: access key training resources, including the How to Higg Guide (2023) and the Higg FEM 4.0 Technical Paper.
Summary of benefits: learn more about how the Higg FEM 4.0 update is beneficial to you and to the industry as a whole.
Preparation information: benefit from tips and insights on how you can prepare your company and your supply chain to complete the assessment.
Important Dates: stay updated with the latest webinars, office hours, and learning opportunities leading up to November.

With in-depth training and content tailored to best prepare you ahead of time, the SAC and Worldly are prepared to help you navigate all changes, big and small. We’re excited to launch a tool that will better shape how decisions are made within each facility, and also drive the industry forward as a whole. Together, we’re not just meeting sustainability standards; we’re setting them.

WHO WE ARE:

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide nonprofit alliance whose collective action efforts lead the consumer goods industry toward a more equitable and restorative future. The SAC owns and develops the Higg Index, a suite of tools that provides a standardized framework for organizations to assess sustainability impact throughout the product life cycle. Over the past decade, the SAC has focused on building and evolving the methodologies of the Higg Index using the latest scientific research, in collaboration with SAC members, consultants, stakeholders, industry experts, and ecosystem partners, such as Worldly. To learn more about the Higg Index, visit https://cascale.org/the-higg-index/.

Worldly is the planet’s most comprehensive impact intelligence platform, trusted by 40,000+ major brands, retailers, and manufacturers in fashion, outdoor, home goods, toys, and more. Worldly uniquely collects high-resolution primary data specific to companies’ value chains, operations, and products, providing insight into true impacts across carbon, water, chemistry, and labor. Featuring the most comprehensive source of ESG data for global manufacturers and the largest library of materials and product impacts, Worldly empowers businesses to scale responsibility into their global operations, faster and more accurately. Hosting, connecting with, and supporting the leading industry solutions and methodologies including ZDHC, Bluesign, and the Higg Index – the most widely-adopted measure of sustainability in the apparel industry – Worldly delivers the insights businesses need to reduce their impact, comply with emerging regulatory and financial disclosure requirements, and meet the expectations of a new generation of customers. www.worldly.io

Publications / 2022 Annual Report

2022 Annual Report

Higg Index Tools
Annual Report

Our reflections on driving positive progress, addressing challenges and fostering collective impact within the textile and apparel industry.

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Image of the front cover of the 2023 Annual Report

June 09, 2023

Blogs / 30 x 30: What Does it Mean for the Apparel Industry?

30 x 30: What Does it Mean for the Apparel Industry?

Science-Based Targets

Amina Razvi

May 16, 2023

So many of us appreciate how much the natural world means to our mental and physical health. But as nature nears a tipping point, there’s now so much more at stake.

Nature loss now threatens people and the planet. To put this in perspective, our world’s wildlife populations plummeted by 69% between 1970 and 2022 due to our unsustainable use of our planet’s resources.

That’s not just a tragedy for all the incredible life-forms that run, fly, swim, grow and inhabit the world alongside us, enriching us in countless ways. It’s an alarming sign of how quickly we’re moving towards the collapse of complex, interwoven ecosystems on which all of life on earth depends – including us.

We need fertile soils, thriving oceans, plentiful forests, balanced and diverse species and clean water systems to survive. Scientists and experts warn that we need every one of these aspects of nature to help us reduce the intensity and frequency of climate-related risks.

30 x 30 is a wake-up call to use the tools and knowledge we have and unleash the creativity and innovation needed to restore nature before it’s too late.

The 30 x 30 goal is to put aside 30% of the world for nature by 2030. It was agreed at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15), and is an ambitious but vital target.

30 x 30 gives us aligned goals that we collectively need to hold ourselves accountable to, and to achieve, in order to bring nature back from the brink.

So what does that mean for our industry?

The textile and apparel industry has huge impacts on nature, due to our use of water and chemicals, and our greenhouse gas emissions. These are all key drivers of biodiversity loss.

But the way I see it, this heavy impact also offers us great opportunities in terms of reversing the trend, co-creating solutions together and positively contributing to the global communities in which we operate.

Here’s one example that proves we not only urgently need to do this, but that we absolutely can.

At the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), we continue to see companies putting competition aside to collaborate to achieve a 45% reduction in emissions by 2030.

Our Decarbonization Program is the result of work we are doing with our members and industry partners, as are many other industries, to ensure meaningful action and impact. It will take nothing less than working hand in hand across the value chain to increase education, sharing of best practices and ensuring real progress towards shared goals. While there is more to do, we’ve learned a lot from it. So let’s build on these learnings to advance progress more rapidly when it comes to nature restoration.

What’s the first thing we know we need to do? Get our framework right.

We need to use science-based targets for nature to form action plans that everyone in our sector is working towards. By aligning on achieving science-based, measurable targets and benchmarks, SAC members can make real and vital progress.

Our industry has an ability to bring people and knowledge together to collaborate and co-create solutions; catalyzing collective action to protect people and planet.

The era of working in silos is over. The future lies in harnessing the textile and apparel industry’s vast amount of talent, creativity, innovation and ingenuity, and collaborating to protect nature.

Let’s also make the most of the tools and systems we’ve created to take action against reversing biodiversity loss.

At SAC we’re already incorporating biodiversity within our Higg Index suite of tools that allow brands and retailers to assess their impacts.

For example, we recently made biodiversity a category in a major update to our Higg Brand and Retail Module (BRM), one of the five assessment tools within the Higg Index, allowing brands and retailers to assess their impacts when it comes to land use and habitat protection, including more in-depth questions on water and circularity as key levers of change.

We developed the update in collaboration with members and key partner organizations to ensure close alignment with standard assessment protocols.

We’re also exploring opportunities to utilize our Higg Facility Environmental Model (FEM) to help achieve nature-based targets – including using the vast amount of data we have gathered on chemical usage, water usage and wastewater, to identify hotspots where businesses can drive collective action for substantial impact.

Our data, insights and scale of our membership offer significant opportunities for helping to address fashion’s biodiversity cost.

Reversing the alarming rate of nature loss, and creating a thriving, resilient and just future, requires urgently transforming our systems. Based on more than a decade of collaboration, we know that if you put in place the tools, processes and policies, they do work. There are countless examples of specific actions that can yield outsized positive impacts, but more needs to be done to significantly scale these types of interventions to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

From boardrooms and sourcing teams to manufacturing floors and policy makers, now’s the time for radical collaboration to restore nature. Together, we can make the changes needed to bring nature back from the edge.

Blogs / Using the Higg Index to Trace Environmental Impact Results as We Drive Towards More Sustainable Textile Production

Using the Higg Index to Trace Environmental Impact Results as We Drive Towards More Sustainable Textile Production

Higg FEM
Higg FSLM

Gemma Verhoeven

March 10, 2023

Current fashion supply chains are highly polluting and wasteful, making the fashion industry one of the most unsustainable industries. In order to measure and quantify the sustainability impacts of a manufacturing facility, the SAC’s Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) is a valuable tool. The Higg FEM offers standardized measurements for sustainability and helps manufacturers, brands, and retailers identify and prioritize opportunities for performance improvements through the use of a common language.

However, acting on the data can sometimes be a financial challenge for manufacturers. Although sustainable technology solutions exist today, manufacturers often lack the knowledge or capital to invest in such machinery to improve their production processes. The Good Fashion Fund (GFF), a first-of-its-kind initiative by Laudes Foundation, was established to create systemic change in the textile and apparel industry by encouraging mainstream uptake of impactful and disruptive production technologies. The fund provides long-term USD loans to apparel and textile manufacturers in India and Bangladesh to enable them to implement innovative and sustainable technologies.

The first loan by the GFF was made to Pratibha Syntex in 2021. By the first monitoring visit in November 2022, the impact results surpassed the targets of a minimum of 50% savings. At the end of 2022, another loan was signed with Progress Apparels in Dhaka, and the GFF expects to close three more loans—one in Bangladesh and two in India—by the end of the quarter. The investments are diverse and relate to the enhancement of effluent treatment plants, the adaptation of state-of-the-art spinning and weaving equipment, the installation or replacement of washing unit equipment, and the expansion of unique waste-to-yarn recycling facilities.

The technology we finance relates primarily to equipment for dyeing, washing, printing, and wastewater treatment and reduces the use of hazardous chemicals, water, or energy in the production process. Every GFF investment should lead to a minimum of 50% reduction in consumption of one of our three environmental goods: Good Energy, Good Water, or Good Materials (incl. chemicals).

The GFF is unique in its focus on sustainable and ethical fashion and we’re proud to be the first financial investor to join the SAC’s global membership, utilizing the Higg FEM as a key part of our environmental due diligence process. The Higg FEM measures the exact environmental impacts of a facility’s operations that we aim to improve, such as water use, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, and chemical management. It aligns perfectly with the GFF’s objectives.

In particular, the Higg FEM assesses a facility’s overall Environmental Management Systems and specifically gathers data on energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, wastewater, air emissions, waste management, and chemical management. The score not only reflects absolute levels but particularly focuses on encouraging improvements and setting baseline levels and targets.

Having a verified Higg FEM score allows us at the GFF to limit our environmental due diligence efforts to desktop research and interviews conducted by our advisors Sphera and TUV Rheinland. When a facility is new to the Higg Index, our due diligence is more extensive and includes a site visit, but, ultimately, the manufacturers and operators in which we invest must receive a verified Higg FEM score. This allows the company to create value from the exercise and publicly communicate the results.

It is a complex analysis and will require continuous development. We are confident the SAC will maintain and leverage its close partnership with its member retailers, brands, manufacturers, and other stakeholders to continue improving and increase levels of adoption.

Moreover, the GFF uses the Higg FEM score, not only for the initial investment decision but also to better monitor continuous performance over the lifetime of our partnership with the manufacturer. As the Higg Index becomes more widely recognized and adopted, we will be able to more effectively communicate the sustainability performance of the portfolio companies to our investors. More importantly, it will help the manufacturers communicate their improved sustainability performance to consumers. The investments funded by the GFF typically improve a facility’s Higg FEM score substantially.

Our partner at TUV Rheinland, Rakesh Vazirani, Global Head of Sustainability Services, Consumer Products, noted: “Every facility we encounter for environmental due diligence is eager to make improvements to positively impact its environmental performance KPIs/metrics to showcase its progress, to explore cost savings, to highlight its uniqueness to customers, and to prepare for future regulation. Relying on existing industry frameworks like Higg FEM allowed facilities’ performance to be measured based on a harmonized framework; and GFF’s approach to fund improvements to make an impact fit into the wider mission of factories, local governments, and brands. We look forward to the continuous evolution of the Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) framework to add efficiency to the process, and further alignment with European Green Finance taxonomy.“

Of course, the assessment and improvement of working conditions and labour rights are equally important aspects of the GGF’s objectives. Currently, the social due diligence is being performed by Fairwear Foundation, and important topics such as labor policies, health and safety conditions, workers committees, adequate administration and execution of contracts, salary management and working hours, grievance mechanisms, and anti-discrimination policies are being reviewed on site. In one of the more recent transactions, for the first time, the social due diligence included assessing the company’s verified scores of the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (FSLM). Given social audits are at least as intensive for a company to accommodate as the environmental due diligence, we are exploring the possibilities of the Higg FSLM verification as more brands and manufacturers adopt the standard.

The GFF is dedicated to creating systemic change in the fashion industry, not only by the direct impact of its investments but also by sharing experiences and lessons learned widely. We aim to create partnerships with other actors in the fashion industry and financial sector, drive awareness of opportunities for sustainable technologies, and catalyze finance. GFF will continue to report on its investee companies extensively, encouraging further use of standardized measurements including the Higg FEM and Higg FSLM scores.

Press Releases / Sustainable Apparel Coalition releases latest version of the Higg Brand & Retail Module to support companies to drive positive impact at scale

Sustainable Apparel Coalition releases latest version of the Higg Brand & Retail Module to support companies to drive positive impact at scale

Higg BRM

Caucaisan female customer with curly hair buying clothes in boutique

March 01, 2023

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has today released a major update to the Higg Brand & Retail Module (BRM) to more effectively deliver on industry needs and drive positive impact.

The update follows a process of rigorous consultation between the SAC, its members, Apparel Alliance partners Textile Exchange and ZDHC and other industry experts.
The result is a tool which will help brands and retailers to better assess their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance along their entire global value chain, in order to improve performance.
In order to drive positive impact at scale the tool now has greater alignment with ‘best in class’ frameworks on issues such as biodiversity, or responsible purchasing practices.

San Francisco, Amsterdam, Hong Kong – March 01, 2023: The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), in collaboration with technology partner Higg, has today released the latest version of the Higg Brand & Retail Module (BRM), one of the five assessment tools in the Higg Index. The Higg BRM is a leading, holistic framework that creates an industry specific method for brands and retailers to evaluate, report on and improve Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance along their global value chains. The SAC has invested in a major update of the tool which will feature a new assessment structure and updated methodology, underpinned by a due diligence approach. The update will encourage brands and retailers to focus on real action, impact and results.

Recent findings from The Industry We Want, in partnership with Fair Wear, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), has revealed the apparel and footwear industry is not making fast enough progress on purchasing practices, supply chain wages and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In order to drive the scale of transformation needed, brands and retailers need a clear and standardized picture of their environmental and social hotspots, to create a clear roadmap for transformation.

This new version of the assessment has been reorganized across 11 key areas, split across three pillars (environmental impacts, social impacts, governance) to be more relevant to where the industry needs to drive change, faster. The assessment has added biodiversity as a new impact area and now features more in depth questions on water and circularity as key impact areas and levers of change in the tool. The questions have also been revised to align with best in class standards; for example alignment with best practice guidance on responsible purchasing practices. Additionally, the scoring methodology has been simplified so it can be shared with users openly. The Higg BRM now provides one finite score out of 100, in addition to score breakdowns per pillar and impact area, making it easier to understand, communicate and benchmark against peers.

The assessment has been restructured to provide greater value for different organizations to prioritize our industry’s pressing ESG issues and focusing on impacts and results. Other benefits include the reduction of reporting burden through alignment with relevant frameworks and by eliminating the duplication across the entire questionnaire.

The update is based on research by the SAC’s Higg BRM team and is the result of one year of consultations and with over 75 stakeholders including members and industry experts to ensure close alignment with standard assessment protocols. It has been developed in collaboration with members, key partner organizations including Apparel Alliance members Textile Exchange and ZDHC who contributed to the development of specific content on materials, biodiversity, circularity and chemicals. The SAC also engaged STTI and the Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Working Group of the Common Framework of Responsible Purchasing Practice (CFRPP), represented by Fair Wear, who provided input and feedback on the responsible purchasing practices section of the assessment. SAC members across all territories were also consulted and the SAC hosted three regional roundtables to ensure all geographies were represented.

Jeremy Lardeau, Vice President, Higg Index at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, said: “We are excited to release the latest version of our Higg Brand & Retail Module, which marks a major milestone for the SAC. This update is the result of an incredible level of engagement with experts and stakeholders from across the industry, to whom we are truly grateful for the time and input provided. This process has allowed us to better align with existing industry assessment frameworks, and make sure we are addressing the needs and expectations of our members and the industry at large. Our tools must evolve to continuously improve, and while this update is a step in that direction, we will continue to iterate the BRM as the industry progresses, legislation evolves and we continue to gather insights and feedback from BRM users and other stakeholders.”

Maravillas Rodriguez Zarco, Director, Higg Brand & Retail, at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, said: “The release of the latest version of our Higg Brand & Retail Module is a clear reflection of our mission at the SAC to transform business for exponential impact through groundbreaking tools, collaborative partnerships, and trusted leadership for industry sustainability. From the new assessment structure, to the updated methodology, we are proud of the work we have done to get to this point, we believe the latest version will provide deeper insights and value for brands and retailers and we look forward to continuing supporting them on their sustainability journeys.”

Magnus Dorsch, Head of Corporate Sustainability, About You said:
“The launch of the updated Higg BRM marks a major milestone for the SAC, its members, and the industry at large. We are honored to have contributed to the work that went into the development of the new version. Since joining the SAC in January 2021 and adopting the Higg BRM, we have supported our brand partners in aligning on a unified approach towards sustainable practices, helping them understand where they stand regarding their sustainability journeys and how to continue to support them to improve and drive progress. We believe the updated Higg BRM will serve to help us continue calibrating our ESG strategy to ensure consistency in our progress and reporting and look forward to seeing how it continues to evolve to meet the needs of the industry.”

Sarah Needham, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Textile Exchange said:
“It is exciting to see the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s investment to move the Higg Brand & Retail Module in this direction, adding crucial updates including biodiversity as a new impact area and moving to closer alignment with our Materials Benchmark program (formally known as Corporate Fiber and Material Benchmark). We are pleased that as a part of the apparel alliance, we can continue to support on progressing our shared goal of moving the industry towards 45% GHG reduction by 2030 by providing a source for raw materials uptake information, and collaborate to streamline reporting across the fashion, apparel and textile industry.”

Klaas Nuttbohm, ZDHC Implementation Director said:
“We are excited for the opportunity to collaborate with the SAC and create greater alignment between the two organizations. The integration of the ZDHC Brands to Zero Assessment (BtZ) into the Higg BRM means a big step forward for both our organizations. This is a major advance for the apparel alliance partners to align the programmes and tools which will lead to the opportunity for our Contributor Brands to benefit from utilizing the BtZ results in the BRM reporting.”

Margreet Vrieling Fair Wear, chair of the Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Working Group on the CFRPP, said: “We welcome the efforts of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to seek closer alignment to the Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices, developed by the MSI working group, within its Higg Brand & Retail Module. Identifying and assessing the risks and negative impacts of purchasing practices in the buyer-supplier relationship is key to mitigate negative effects on suppliers and workers. By using the responsible purchasing practices as they have been laid down in the Common Framework as input for the BRM responsible purchasing practices questions, the SAC reinforces the importance of collaboration and convergence to drive progress within our industry.”

Karin Ekberg GmbH, Founder & CEO Leadership & Sustainability said:
“The launch of the new BRM module is a great step forward for SAC and its members. It has been a pleasure for us at Leadership & Sustainability to be part of the process to develop the new BRM. As it is now aligned with international ESG standards and expectations, we believe this version will meet market demands, will support brands and retailers to measure and improve their ESG performance as well as communicate their efforts in a transparent and trustworthy manner. Congratulations to the SAC team and all contributing members!”

Brands and retailers can use the Higg BRM to understand their performance in these areas: Environment: climate, water, waste, biodiversity and chemicals; Social: workers, employees, consumers and communities; Governance: structure and management, ethics and behavior.

The updated Higg BRM is now available for brands and retailers to measure and report on their ESG impacts to understand their progress and identify areas for improvement with clarity and transparency. If your organization is interested in using the Higg BRM, please find more information here.

– ENDS –

About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition:

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an independent and impact-creating organization that aims to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability based upon a joint approach for measuring, evaluating, and improving performance.

As a non-profit organization, it has members from across the apparel, footwear and textile sector, but exists independently outside any one company so that it can drive progress. The SAC’s collective action efforts bring more than 280 global brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, academics and industry associations together. They represent about half of the apparel and footwear industry along the whole supply chain – from sustainability pioneers to organizations just getting started.

Before the SAC existed, companies worked in a siloed way, using their own programs and measurements that lacked standardization and an ability to drive collective action. In 2009, Walmart and Patagonia identified this as a serious problem. Joining forces, they brought together peers and competitors from across the sector, to develop a universal approach to measuring sustainability performance and founded the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

Blogs / Sustainable Fashion Requires a Comprehensive Approach

Sustainable Fashion Requires a Comprehensive Approach

Joël Mertens

February 27, 2023

Since our inception in 2009, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has always recognized that sustainability is a multifaceted topic. From an environmental perspective, to social and labor issues at a global scale, there are a multitude of aspects to take into consideration, including: impacts in creating different synthetic and natural raw materials, the manufacturing decisions to convert those raw materials into products, the number of times a product is used to what happens to it at the end of its life, as well as responsible purchasing practices and the conditions in which garment makers work.

Given this complex reality, measuring sustainability can never be narrowed down to one single criterion. We have always advocated that our members, including retailers, brands, manufacturers and affiliates, adopt a broad approach – ensuring production methods, social impacts, and the entire value chain are considered. That’s why our Higg Index suite of tools for measuring sustainability cover topics as varied as water use, carbon emissions, and labor conditions.

In conjunction with industry specialists, our world class team of experts have created this array of tools to measure impacts at every point in a piece of apparel’s life cycle – reflecting real world complexity. Working with experts, our tools continue to evolve with scientific and data developments, alongside of course the needs of our members. They have been developed based on intervention points that we know make a difference to impact, including those that aren’t always directly quantifiable. Here are just some of the subjects they tackle:

Emissions

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is vital. To achieve net zero and stop global warming from spiraling out-of-control, it’s essential that all manufacturers, retailers, brands, and suppliers urgently decarbonize. The first step in doing so is to measure current emissions. To help our members do this properly, our tools offer a comprehensive approach.

Take our Higg Material Sustainability Index (MSI) as a case in point, which has recently been updated to include more than 20 new materials and processes, making it one of the largest updates that the tool has experienced. Using primary data submitted by our members and other industry players, it assesses the complete cradle-to-grave impacts of different materials, including emissions.

The process data in the Higg MSI uses an LCA approach that factors in all the way to Scope 3 emissions. This includes indirect emissions that may be otherwise hidden from a user, like the energy required to mine resources, and all the manufacturing emissions related to the upstream value chain inputs. To drive collective and urgent action on emissions reduction, we recently launched our Decarbonization Program. It requires all our members to set Science-Based Targets, which provide a clearly defined path to reduce emissions in line with Paris Agreement goals, and we are educating members and sharing best practices on how to set targets and implement them.

Supply Chains

Fashion is a complex global industry, with supply chains criss crossing continents. In this context, true sustainability can only be achieved through collective action. No brand or retailer can do this alone. Each is reliant on multiple suppliers and must bring them on its sustainability journey.

Accordingly, we advise all our members to map out and understand their supply chains, and work with them to develop roadmaps to set targets and drive improvements. This includes decarbonization, reducing water consumption, cutting waste, and ensuring fair pay and conditions for all workers.

To this end, our Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) offers insights for manufacturers, brands, and retailers on the environmental performance of individual factories or production facilities. For example, it measures the carbon intensity of their manufacturing processes based on the energy grid mix – in terms of renewables versus fossil fuels – of their geographic location, when that information is available and can be independently validated.

In practice, this means it can show the difference in manufacturing emissions in countries like Indonesia or China, where the energy grids tend to be more fossil-fuel-based, versus somewhere like Europe, where renewables are more common.

From a social perspective, our Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM) helps to promote safe and fair social and labor conditions for value chain workers all over the world. It offers not only a scoring model eliminating the need for brands to conduct individual audits to assess facilities’ performance, and reduce audit fatigue, but allows businesses to dedicate time and resources to making lasting systemic changes, instead of focusing on compliance.

Product Processing Choices

Fashion brands must also consider how products are made. Different methods result in different emissions and environmental impacts. To keep their carbon footprint to a minimum, companies can compare the scale of emissions generated by different processes using our Higg MSI. To make this comparison possible, we use an industry average in terms of the carbon intensity of the energy grid mix. Once they’ve compared the relative impacts of similar processes, they can then use our Higg FEM to select which factory, in which part of the world, offers the right process in combination with a low-carbon local energy grid mix.

Different Fabrics

Raw materials are significant, although sometimes their importance can be overestimated. The reality is that they are just one part of the picture. Using impact data from the Higg MSI, the World Resources Institute and Apparel Impact Institute released a report which revealed that raw materials only account for roughly a quarter of the impact of manufacturing a product – even before including use or end of life.

The nature of a fabric – whether or not it is natural, synthetic, organic, or recycled – is not the predominant issue in how sustainable it is, as the interventions highlighted from that report show.

Indeed, data from our Higg MSI shows that simply switching fibers often doesn’t result in any meaningful reduction in a garment’s carbon footprint. Other factors – like the emissions embedded in its production – tend to be more influential. These choices also tend to have less effect on the functionality of a product. A design brief often specifies the type of material that should be used, since this changes the function of a product. Polyester t-shirts and cotton t-shirts are different. But the decision to dye a fabric in a conventional way or to use a lower impact method isn’t something that’s typically specified in a product brief and is something that can be influenced directly.

Wears Per Garment

Poorly designed clothing is clearly less sustainable than high quality garments that are loved and used for years on end. We believe it’s crucial that the quality and longevity of a brand’s products are assessed as part of their sustainability ranking. Our Higg Product Module (PM) measures the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of a product from the point of resource extraction to manufacturing impacts, all the way through product durability, care, and end of use. The default reporting metric of the Higg PM considers both the total footprint of the product and how long it will be used for (wears per garment), and we’ve continued to advocate and support this ‘impact per wear’ approach as part of our role in developing the PEFCR Technical Secretariat.

True Sustainability

An umbrella term covering a series of interlinked issues, sustainability is multifaceted. Sometimes, addressing one requires trade offs elsewhere. The key is to analyze the most scientifically accurate data in every area and then create a comprehensive plan. There are seldom simple fixes.

But we must not let the scale of the challenge daunt us. The fashion world is packed full of extraordinary talent. We have the tools, skills, creativity, and capability to embark on this collective journey of self-improvement. When it comes to protecting both people and the planet, we should always aspire to be better. In practice, this means taking a broad approach.

Cascale