Fashion Revolution, a not-for-profit global movement, observed that British brands are ‘falling behind’ their European counterparts in terms of transparency.
The index from the global fashion activism movement, now in its sixth year, analysed and ranked 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers based on their public disclosure of human rights and environmental policies, practices, and impacts in their operations and supply chains.
Italian brand OVS tops the global benchmark on transparency with a score of 78 per cent, an increase of 44 per cent from 2020, replacing Swedish fashion giant H&M, which came second with 68 per cent, followed by Timberland and The North Face at 66 per cent, and C&A and Vans at 65 per cent.
Other brands scoring above 55 per cent include Gildan, Esprit and United Colors of Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, Gucci, Target Australia, Kmart Australia and Patagonia.
Nottingham-headquartered Speedo is the highest-scoring British brand at 53 per cent, an increase of 19 points from last year. The swimwear brand was followed by Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer at 48 per cent and Asos with 47 per cent.
Eleven per cent of fashion brands disclosed information about some of their raw material suppliers, up from 7 per cent in 2020 and zero per cent in 2016. Also, more than a quarter (27 per cent) revealed some of their processing facilities, such as spinning mills, dye-houses and laundries, up from 24 per cent last year.
However, major fashion brands disclose very “little information about their efforts to address overproduction, plastic use, and waste despite the urgency of the climate crisis,” adds Fashion Revolution.
Just 14 per cent of brands disclose the overall quantity of products made annually, making it difficult to understand the scale of overproduction globally, despite the urgency of the climate crisis.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Transparency in the fashion supply chain is still ‘too slow’ among 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands, according to the 2021 Fashion Transparency Index released recently by Fashion Revolution. There wasn’t a single British brand or retailer within the top 10 brands in the index this year, even though the UK consumes the most clothes in Europe.
