Effective management of a complex global supply chain is becoming critical to the bottom line of today’s businesses. Growing media coverage has pressured many companies to start focusing on how sustainable procurement practices, notably those relating to the environment, can add long-term commercial value.
In the coming years, a company’s lasting competitiveness will no doubt be heavily impacted by how it interacts with suppliers over environmental issues. Only by properly selecting, monitoring, and optimizing their supply base can firms ensure that sustainability is an integral part of their operations.
Many companies nowadays are urging suppliers to get certified along various environmental standards. The most prominent of these is Germany’s Oeko-Tex, which currently certifies about 8,000 to 9,000 different products from factories around the world. Although Oeko-Tex certification has a presence in 80 countries, it lasts only a year and requirements for compliance are fairly rigorous.
Ideally, all suppliers should get certified, but this is something more easily said than done. The bewildering array of corporate environmental standards and purchasing specs, not to mention the costs of getting certified, make the process difficult. Yet despite the hurdles, industry leaders are finding profitable, environmentally conscious solutions for managing their portfolio of suppliers. The more these folks continue pushing back, the more likely eco-friendly practices will disseminate to all involved parties. “You are what you eat,” says Jim Sellar of Lucent’s Global EH&S Group. “If we can push environmental concerns down the supply chain, that makes our job a lot easier in complying and going beyond compliance.”
How is the fashion world responding to the question of sustainability? With flair as you might expect. In her presentation last year at FIT’s Eco Fashion Now-Panel Discussion Series, Britt Bivens, director of 4.5 Productions, a trend-forecasting agency, touched upon key positives and obstacles the media side of sustainable fashion faces. She acknowledged how the relationships between the cause, media attention, eco-pioneers and celebrities have collectively propelled the role of sustainability to the forefront. “Four or five years ago my clients looked at me like I was crazy for offering a session on sustainability or related issues,” she stated, “now look how rapidly the market has changed?” Unfortunately, such dramatic transformation has also led to some confusion on how sustainability should be addressed. In Biven’s opinion, for there to be continued progress “transparency is going to have to become more of an issue. You have magazine lay outs claiming green, where no green fabrics are even used, so the message is right but the production is not.”
When Julie Gilhart decided to spearhead the eco-fashion movement at Barneys New York early last year, she acknowledged that her clients wear fashion, not causes. In conjunction with Loomstate brand, Barneys unveiled a unique collection of 100% organic clothing, a move that was welcomed with admiration from those on Madison Avenue. “The [green] movement,” Gilhart expressed at the same FIT discussion panel, “truly forces us to commit to an idea that will continue long term and pressure luxury retail to change.”
When asked if the fashion industry should slow down consumption to gain a better footing in green production she candidly responded, “Yes, absolutely! Will it happen? I don’t think you can slow it down. It’s based on creativity and energy, and people must make money. This is a business. So I think we need to address transparency because the global community will not allow business to slow.” How does she imagine transparency being tackled? “Many organizations offer database services that will help with the transparency process. In the future companies will use these databases to address this major concern.” Sounds like an opportunity for Panjiva!
Learn how businesses are handling today’s sustainability challenges by visiting CERES, a compliance organization that works with companies on corporate-level CSR strategy, analysis, transparency, and stakeholder engagement. Also read more online at GreenBiz.com.
