Industry has to make systemic changes
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the leading association representing the apparel, footwear and textile industry in sustainability, recently appointed Amina Razvi as executive director (ED). Razvi, with SAC since 2015, earlier served as vice-president of membership and then as interim ED. Razvi spoke to Subir Ghosh about the sustainability issues of our times.
You have taken over as ED of SAC at a very critical juncture. How do you assess the responsibility that comes with the new job? What would be your immediate priorities?
I am honoured to be in this new role. It's an exciting time at the SAC. The path we started on ten years ago was unchartered for any industry. The kind of collaboration the SAC has achieved in bringing the industry together to standardise social and environmental sustainability is groundbreaking. We hope it's an example of how other industries can follow.
Now that we have built a suite of tools with our members for the industry, we have an opportunity to unlock the Coalition's full potential towards our vision. Climate change is the most urgent crisis of our time. We have an obligation and an opportunity to fundamentally improve how the industry operates in order to protect people and the planet, and everyone has a role to play: brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, governments, and consumers.
In terms of our progress, the Higg Facility Tools have been available for several years, and we're currently updating the Higg Brand & Retail Module. Next year, SAC will complete the Higg Index suite of tools with the introduction of the Higg Product Module, which will be a historical achievement for the Coalition and the industry. It will represent a full suite of tools for businesses to measure their social and environmental impact across their value chain that can inform strategic decisions.
At that point, our work will take a significant turn as we move from building the tools to leveraging the tools globally to drive change across the industry. When all facilities, brands, and retailers are using the Higg Index, they will derive insights that inform strategic action, drive systemic changes in how businesses operate, unlock greater transparency, and ultimately, result in positive improvements across the industry.
At a personal level, how did that transition from architecture to textiles / fashion happen. Would be thankful if you could elaborate?
When I joined Gap Inc, I was working in store design within a brand. I had always had an interest and focus on sustainable design and began working with the team on how we could incorporate sustainable design practices across the entire fleet of stores that were being built and remodelled each year. I designed and managed the company's first LEED certified store, and we leveraged many of the learnings from that store to deploy into our store standards.
I wanted to engage on the organisation's overall sustainability efforts and took a role within their Global Sustainability department, working on environmental initiatives for their owned and operated facilities globally, as well as within their supply chain. This is where I was introduced to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the Higg Index.
As a founding member of the SAC, Gap Inc was involved in helping to develop and deploy the very first version of the Higg Index at scale to a small set of strategic partners. We were also involved in piloting and testing all the tools developed from the Brand Module to the Design & Development Module, which I led. In addition, I led the creation and development of environmental strategy and global environmental goals. Throughout my ten-year journey at Gap Inc, I transitioned away from architecture and sustainable store design to working on sustainable business practices at a global, organisational level. This combined with my early and heavy engagement with the SAC as a founding member helped as I transitioned from Gap Inc to the SAC.
As VP for Membership, you had been instrumental in expanding the membership base. How are you planning to expand still? Do you have numbers in mind?
Every business that prioritises sustainability should be using the Higg Index-it offers the most mature and most adopted solution for the apparel industry. Our goal is to continue to scale our work globally so that the industry can lead the changes that will address the climate crisis and make a lasting difference.
The Coalition has been around for some time, and considerable amount of work has already been done. How do you look at the base that has already been built, and what is it that you think you can build on? Simply put: how solid is the existing base?
Ten years ago, the Coalition began as a radical idea between Walmart and Patagonia to bring the industry together. Today, more than 250 organisations are part of SAC. We have developed the most trusted standard in the industry to measure social and environmental impacts and drive improvements. Four years ago, about 6,000 facilities were using the Higg Index, today there are more than 13,000 Higg users. We are scaling the tools' adoption globally, and we'll see this number increase as more organisations use these tools to assess where they are and where they can improve. We invite all industry organisations to join our effort; committing to this work is a strong reflection of an organisation's values.
We're also expanding our work to support members in sharing their sustainability commitments and performance publicly with their business partners and consumers. This has been a central goal of the SAC's mission since its founding. Consumers increasingly want to know more about where and how their clothes are made. Next year, they'll be able to start using the Higg Index to help them make informed decisions.
The Higg Index is a business suite of tools all companies can use to develop sustainable products and communicate this to their value chain partners and consumers. Consumers want stylish sustainable products, and they are also pushing companies to address climate change. If companies hope to remain relevant and viable with their customers, they need to prioritise sustainability, and the more quickly they can do this, the better for their business.
Likewise, a lot of things might have been done and many initiatives taken, but still a lot would remain to be done. In other words, how do you ascertain the challenges that lie ahead-both for the Coalition, as well as yourself at the helm of affairs?
There is an urgency to address global systemic issues in a way that I've not see in the past decade. The impact of climate change is undeniable and will affect everyone. The industry has an obligation to make systemic changes to protect people and the planet. We can achieve this by working together-scaling use of the Higg Index globally, leveraging the insights to drive collective action, and engaging with business and consumers around transparency efforts. Whether members are using the UN's Sustainability Development Goals, signatories of the United Nations Fashion Charter for Climate Change, or committed to other initiatives, we encourage them to set ambitious science-based targets and integrate data collected through the Higg Index to measure, identify areas for improvement, and report their impacts. By design, the more organisations that use the Higg Index, the more robust data it offers the industry, in turn, driving greater insight into performance improvement and the work that we can only achieve together at scale.
This engagement has to occur at all levels, with all stakeholders. We need to engage governments and stakeholders, as we are doing through our policy efforts in Europe. And we need to engage businesses, as we do through the growing Coalition and increased consumer transparency efforts. Unless this work is taking place at all levels, along every part of the value chain, we will not be able to achieve common objectives.
Higg Co has been hived off from the SAC. What was the need to do that? How is it going to work in the future (between SAC and Higg Co)?
While we are separate entities, the SAC and Higg Co still work together towards a shared vision. We made the decision to spin out Higg Co in order to shift the speed and efficiency with which the tools were being developed. SAC members continue to collaborate to develop the content featured in the tools, and Higg Co implements the technology online. Higg Co also offers new personalised solutions for SAC members seeking to integrate the technology in their company systems.
No surprise to anyone who has worked on a large-scale solution for measuring impacts, but it's not easy to scale the work we are doing as an industry organisation. The SAC spun out Higg Index technology development into a new company, Higg Co, in order to more efficiently scale the Higg Index globally and achieve the transformational change we seek in our industry. The spinout enables the funding and development of robust technology that serves the thousands of global Higg Index customers, and allows the SAC to focus on facilitating industry collaboration and increasing member engagement. By spinning out we can move toward speed and efficiency, and dedicate resources to building a technology platform that can serve the industry well.
You had yourself implemented the Higg Index at Gap. How easy / difficult was it to do that? Could you share your personal experience / endeavours?
The Higg Index was in its first version when I started implementing the tool, and it took some time to do so successfully-it was a process. In order to be successful, there are several factors that are important.
First, it's important to have senior level buy in. Rolling out tools that can inform strategic business decisionmaking requires that senior leadership understand the value of the tools and how they can help to inform your business strategy. Second, it's important that internal teams, especially those whose help you need, are on board and aligned with the project. When engaging and involving sourcing and design teams, it's important to know what their priorities are and how this work aligns with their goals, so shared objectives can be discussed and measured. Finally, communication about the project, it's progress, and the results is critical. Communicating with all the stakeholders involved-from leadership to internal teams to supply chain partners-about why the company is doing this and what it hopes to achieve as well as the benefits and opportunities for everyone is important. How does implementing the Higg Index align with shared objectives across teams? What are the outcomes that will ultimately make this work successful to all parties involved? It's important to articulate this.
I learnt this over several years of rolling out the tools with various stakeholders. It wasn't always easy, but I do think that as a Coalition, we've learned so much from all of our members about how to do this work. Many best practices can be leveraged to ensure this work can be integrated and successful from the start.
Being part of the Coalition allows companies to network with other companies that are like them and those that aren't to hear what works, what doesn't, and how we can all learn from each other to continuously improve how we accomplish this work.
What is the future of transparency and how SAC is working towards this vision?
Consumers don't want to have to choose among comfort, style, price, and sustainability-they want it all. With consumer expectation for better options on the rise, transparency becomes that much more critical. Brands need to communicate their social and environmental practices in a way that supports consumer desire for information and, in doing so, purchase decisions become easier and faster.
The data collected in the Higg enables a full cycle of sustainability-from design to end of life-and allows brands to be confident in the data and stories they share with consumers.
There seem quite a few organisations and initiatives working on fashion and sustainability (on the international level). Do you think there are far too many, or far too few? Do you think there is that imperative need for all these organisations and initiatives to join forces? Is it a possibility that organisations working on sustainability / circularity come under one common umbrella, yet retain their independence and push this agenda in a cohesive manner?
We are at a critical juncture in sustainability efforts. It's incumbent upon organisations and imperative for those working on sustainability to align with one another and work together in the clearest way possible so that we can achieve the future we collectively envision.
At the SAC, we have always collaborated with organisations across the value chain, including stakeholders, governments, and partners, and will continue to align efforts where the Higg Index can be leveraged and used to drive improved performance and increased transparency. We work with our members and partners to inform and drive action toward progress. There is a role for many of these organisations to play; the key is how we work together to achieve common objectives. It's important to understand synergies, so we're not duplicating efforts and diluting resources or our potential for impact.
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