Stakeholder initiatives must change, report says
Fashion innovation platform Transformers Foundation has launched a new report called Collective Action Reimagined: A Call for Fair Process and Supplier Inclusion in Fashion’s Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives’.
It describes the report as an exploration of “the systemic barriers preventing meaningful supplier engagement in some of the industry’s most influential multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs).
Among the initiatives the report focuses on are Cascale (formerly the Sustainable Apparel Coalition), Textile Exchange, the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), and Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC).
It compiled the report after a series of interviews with people it calls “key informants within the fashion supply chain”. It describes the interviewees as people who have in-depth first-hand experience and close knowledge of MSI supplier engagement.
The report says rules, governance and processes “often perpetuate supplier exclusion”. The organisations, though well-intentioned, often reinforce barriers that limit supplier participation, leading to what it calls “a cycle of distrust, disengagement, and ineffective sustainability strategies”.
It calls for the adoption of a ‘fair process’ model. This would be based on non-biased decision-making, equitable engagement and transparency. Transformers Foundation said its aim is to transform MSIs into “true platforms for collective action”.
Image: ZDHC.
