Sustainable Apparel Barometer 2021: Findings

Brands and NGOs are working hard to create a genuinely sustainable cotton supply chain, finds the report titled ‘Sustainable Apparel Barometer 2021’, this year’s state of innovation report informing and driving effective action towards ethical and climate-positive fashion and apparel.

“Many sector companies are engaging with growers and developing better training programmes. Brands are committing to using organic cotton. And there is a move towards fully traceable cotton and away from the mass balance supply chain approach,” states the report.

The report finds the cotton sector’s greatest challenge is the ongoing forced labour in Chinese supply chains, most notably in the province of Xinjiang. Given that China produces 30 per cent of the world’s cotton and Xinjiang 85 per cent of the nation’s crop, the report concludes that any brand with Chinese cotton in its supply chain is affected by this problem.

The research also finds that the viscose sector is another with significant challenges and opportunities. Derived from wood pulp, there is a direct link between viscose and deforestation risks, and the sector has been linked with sourcing from threatened areas such as the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the Amazon basin and the boreal forests of Canada.

A further challenge is that viscose production can be chemically intensive and potentially polluting, with chemicals used at all stages of fibre production. A number of environmental activist groups have put pressure on the sector to work harder to address these sourcing and manufacturing risks.

The 2021 report highlights that there remains a knowledge gap in the viscose industry on what sustainable management of viscose entails, particularly regarding avoiding deforestation. Certification has a useful role to play in developing sustainably sourced wood pulp, and there are a number of initiatives that are working hard on controlled and responsible use of chemicals in the sector. The report concludes that the approach of apparel brands and retailers to forest fibres is evolving, and there is a need for more industry wide discussion to drive greater engagement on this.

The report also highlights that the apparel sector has been characterised by a lack of social compliance over the past two decades, during which there have been a number of instances of child labour, low wages, labour rights abuses and discrimination. And these are ongoing despite the emergence of many social performance standards and a large auditing and certification industry. “Governments are frustrated at the lack of progress and there is a growing trend towards mandatory due diligence standards governing supply chains,” the report mentions.

Setting out to find what a credible strategy could look like, the report concludes that a three-way approach, focused on significant more collaboration, is necessary. Firstly, the current morass of standards and approaches should be simplified and harmonised. Secondly, apparel sector brands should commit to reform and work with each other and others in the value chain to achieve this. And, thirdly, there is work to do to understand properly the societal context of apparel supply chain challenges. 

Innovation Forum was supported in the work for the 2021 report by its research partners Textile Exchange, Asia Pacific Rayon (APR), Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) and the US Cotton Trust Protocol.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)