Supply Chain
How leading companies, NGOs and solution providers are working to address the myriad issues that can arise in any supply chain.
6 Considerations to Create a Sustainable, Ethical Fashion Brand
(6 months ago) - When Otero Menswear first decided to create an innovative, fashion-forward line of menswear, promoting both style and confidence, we were also committed to manufacturing every article of clothing with a high respect for both the environment and the people who are involved in every stage of manufacturing. As reasonable as these goals may seem, it turns out that the odds were stacked against us … but with a little heart and soul, we found a way. This article is to give you some tips on how you, too, can find a way through an industry that seems dead set on continuing in its harmful ways.
U.S. Biggest Purchaser of Goods At Risk of Being Produced Through Forced Labor
(6 months ago) - According to a new report, one in every 800 people in the United States is working under forced labor conditions. The findings are part of the Global Slavery Index 2018, the world’s most comprehensive research on modern slavery, launched Thursday by the Walk Free Foundation. The Index revealed that today, more than 400,000 people are working as modern slaves in the United States.
New Projects in Guatemala, Australia Sweetening Sugar Industry Sustainability Practices
(7 months ago) - Sugar has been a hot topic the past few years due to artificial and natural sweeteners entering the market and growing concerns about obesity and children’s health. The U.S.
Microsoft, Tiffany & Co Lead Global Agreement on Responsible Industrial-Scale Mining
(7 months ago) - Led by leading companies Anglo American, ArcelorMittal, Microsoft and Tiffany & Co — and after a full decade of consultation among large numbers of stakeholders from the mining industry, organized labor, nonprofits, impacted communities and businesses — a global Standard for Responsible Mining was released today.
How a Practical Guide to Sourcing Sustainable Cotton Could Help Transform the Industry
(7 months ago) - ‘I would like to source more sustainable cotton, but I’m not quite sure where to start. There seems to be an awful lot of standards out there, and I’m not quite sure what the differences are between them.’ ‘I’d like to increase the volumes of sustainable cotton I buy, but I’m worried about sourcing different types of sustainable cotton — does a portfolio approach work?’ ‘I want to source sustainable cotton. I just want this to be easy. I wonder how other brands are doing it.’ These are real challenges, from real people working for real brands and retailers, big and small, across the world.
Intel, HP, Apple Named Leaders in Taking Action Against Forced Labor in Tech
(7 months ago) - KnowTheChain has released its second ranking of the top 40 global information and communications technology (ICT) companies on their efforts and disclosure related to eradicating forced labor.
New Index Uses Data from Suppliers to Rate Brands and Retailers
(8 months ago) - What if rating brands and retailers, and not just suppliers, is the key to better supply chains? That is the goal behind a new index from Better Buying. The index provides sustainability professionals with previously inaccessible data about supply chains, as it empowers suppliers themselves to assess purchasing practices of 65 brands and retailers in the global apparel, footwear and household textiles industries globally.
How Driscoll's Is Creating Shared Value in Berry Supply Chains
(8 months ago) - The buyer-supplier relationship is changing in more ways than you might imagine. Consumers and retailers are increasingly demanding that suppliers demonstrate their sustainability: How are buyers and suppliers collectively adapting to changes in the market, as well as labor and environmental pressures? My conversation with Kelley Bell, VP of social and environmental impact at Driscoll’s, provided insight into how large food brands are approaching these challenges and what the conversation is like among leading businesses as they work to create shared value with and for their suppliers.
WAP: Helping Companies Navigate Hot Spots in Quest for Supply Chain Transparency
(8 months ago) - WAP Sustainability Consulting works with manufacturers and brands to help them meet customers’ expectations on sustainability – specifically around life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon management and product ingredient transparency, particularly in regards to chemicals management. We spoke with founder William Paddock to learn more about these current hot spots in the ongoing quest for supply chain transparency. What are some of the key issues or buzzwords of concern for companies right now? William Paddock: I tend to see organizations struggling with three things:
Farmers Are the Linchpin to Food Companies' Sustainable Sourcing Goals
(8 months ago) - Tyson Foods, the largest meat company in the U.S., is starting to step up to the plate on sustainability and respond to pressure from investors and consumers to tackle water risks in its supply chain. Recently, the company made a commitment to improve the water, soil and fertilizer practices in its far-flung feed grain supply chain — impacting more than two million acres of corn production by 2020, or about half of its corn supply chain. The measures have strong potential to both improve water quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Tyson’s move sends a strong signal to the rest of the meat sector that driving down the massive environmental impacts of growing animal feed is a smart business strategy.
New Tech Platform Makes Sustainability ‘Common Objective’ for Fashion Companies
(8 months ago) - A new digital platform aims to make sustainable business decisions easier for the fashion industry. By matching actors along the supply chain and providing data-driven, solutions-focused information, Common Objective (CO) hopes to improve the day-to-day practices of textiles and clothing companies around the world.
eKutir: The Human-Digital Platform Curating the Future of Food
(9 months ago) - As we get ready to select our semi-finalists for the 2018 Sustainable Brands Innovation Open, we wanted to check in with last year’s semi-finalists to learn about the impacts they continue to have on the business world. Here, we catch up with eKutir Global.
The Hundred People Behind Your Favorite Pair of Jeans
(9 months ago) - Have you ever stopped to think about how many people were involved in making the clothes you buy? Chances are you have heard about or read The Travels of a T-shirt in a Global Economy or listened to Planet Money’s piece on making a t-shirt. Both are incredibly interesting examinations of the effects of global trade on the fashion industry, developing countries and garment workers.
3 Key Things to Understand About Soil Health
(9 months ago) - Half of the soil on our U.S. farmland is gone. Conventional agricultural practices and conversion of land to cropland caused this devastating loss. The good news is that the rate of soil erosion has declined, with an even brighter path ahead.
IBM TrustChain Tracks Diamonds from Mine to Finger
(9 months ago) - Though diamonds in today’s jewelry market are much more likely to be conflict free thanks to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, it can still be difficult to trace individual components back to their exact origins. IBM and a newly-formed consortium of gold and diamond businesses aim to make the jewelry supply chain more transparent through the use of
2018 Promises to Further Raise the Sustainability Bar
(9 months ago) - As we approach the 2020 deadline for many corporate sustainability pledges, plus the commitments made in the New York Declaration on Forests, sustainable business practices are front and center in the minds of decision-makers. The next twelve months will be pivotal in achieving these goals.
CGF Announces New Sustainability Benchmarking, Recognition Initiative
(9 months ago) - Choosing from the many existing compliance schemes can be challenging for organisations who strive to work with suppliers that provide decent working conditions, respect the environment and align with industry-approved resolutions.
Report: Pollinator Decline Threatening Supply Chains, Especially Cocoa
(10 months ago) - Shortages of raw materials, lower crop quality, and less secure supply are just some of the challenges companies may face due to an emerging pollination deficit – and businesses are largely unaware of the risks, according to a new report by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. Around three quarters of food crops depend on pollination, making pollinators worth up to $577 billion annually, of which half comes from wild pollinators. However, pollinator populations are declining rapidly, with more than a third of wild bee and butterfly species facing local extinction.
Counter Culture Coffee, Twin Release Climate Adaptation Toolkit for Coffee Farmers
(10 months ago) - Climate change is predicted to reduce the amount of arable land suitable for growing coffee by 50% by 2050. Climatic changes are already impacting coffee production around the world, threatening the global supply, and the endangering the livelihoods of the 25 million families who depend on its production.
Greater Linkages Needed to Secure Global Food Supply Chain
(10 months ago) - Imagine that your local market stall or supermarket aisle is devoid of staple foodstuffs such as maize, apples and bananas, let alone more ‘exotic’ and luxury products such as chili peppers or hazelnuts (the key ingredient of Nutella, which recently caused havoc in Intermarché supermarkets in France when consumers clambered to buy jars of the cocoa hazelnut spread, which were being offered at a 70 percent discount).