Mode Tracker unveils sustainability score of brands

01 Apr '16

3 min read

Sustainability scores of four fashion brands, Ted Baker, G-Star, Vivobarefoot and Haikure, which are transparent and independently verified, have been made public using a new tool called Mode Tracker.

“Until now, fashion companies' sustainability performances have not been independently verified, consumer-friendly, based on a common standard or often published,” a press release said.

According to the developers, Mode Tracker was strongly welcomed when it was introduced in concept-form in 2014 following consultation with 50 independent sustainability and fashion experts.

“Since then, a rigorous pilot programme was followed by a year-long verification of the four companies and a publication of the pilot results of G-Star in 2015,” they added in the press release.

G-Star's CR director Frouke Bruinsma said, “While giving a comprehensive overview of the strengths and gaps, this process has led to a strategic insight on how to further improve our sustainability performance. “

“Mode Tracker enables us to be transparent in a credible way; to our customers, the industry and critical stakeholders and we are proud to be among the first group of companies to work with it,” Bruinsma too added.

“It represents the way forward for the industry and we therefore invite other fashion companies to also take this step,” Bruinsma informed.

Allanna Mcaspurn, whose organisation, Made-By, developed the tool said, “Mode-Tracker provides independent verification which allows companies to baseline and measure progress.”

“It covers both social and environmental and is the broadest and deepest monitoring framework in the fashion industry and the results are easy to understand and are layered,” Mcaspurn also added.

“In addition to the scorecard of results, companies also receive detailed reports on each topic, showing where their gaps are and what they need to do to be in line with industry best practice,” she stated.

Sustainability guru Robert Nuttall who developed the pioneering sustainability strategy Plan A for Stuart Rose at M&S, said, “In my opinion, this tool for the fashion industry is comparable with the best elsewhere.”

“And many industries would do well to look at the work that Made-By does and Mode Tracker in particular to and take their lead from this,” Nuttall observed.

Mode Tracker enables fashion brands and retailers to develop a roadmap to engage on a broad range of sustainability issues, demonstrate their improvements and communicate these actions publicly.

There are eight areas, or cubes, that are assessed like people, product, manufacturing, packaging and transport, own operations, use and durability, product waste and transparency.

Companies must choose product and people plus one other and each cube is broken down into three ascending levels; build foundation and set ambition; make steady progress and adopt best industry practice.

“Brands or retailers that demonstrate outstanding industry leadership, receive special commendation, indicated by a flag icon,” the developers also informed. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

More Apparel/Garments News - United Kingdom...