Fashion Revolution is a global movement that works for a more sustainable fashion industry. © Fashion Revolution

Three sportswear and outdoor brands are leading the way on transparency amongst the world’s 200 largest fashion brands and retailers by disclosing a wide range of human rights policies, commitments and outcomes, as well as who their suppliers are, Fashion Revolution’s Fashion Transparency Index 2019 reveals today.

Adidas, Reebok and Patagonia each score a total 64% out of 250 possible points, followed by Esprit and H&M in the 61-70%. C&A, ASOS, Puma, Nike, Converse, Jordan, The North Face, Timberland, Wrangler, Vans and Marks & Spencer rank at the top end of the 51-60% range.

This is the first year since the Fashion Transparency Index’s inception that brands will score over 60%, showing that progressive brands are now taking real, tangible steps to disclose more about their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts.

No brands score above the 70% range showing that there is still a long way to go towards transparency amongst all major fashion brands.

Positive progress

Since 2016, Fashion Revolution has tracked global brands and benchmarked their performance against five key areas: policy and commitments, governance, traceability, supplier assessment and remediation, and spotlight issues, which this year focus on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Fashion Revolution believes that the major fashion brands have the moral imperative and ability to effect change on a global scale. © Fashion Revolution

“The progress we are seeing this year, coupled with the feedback Fashion Revolution has received from brands, suggests that inclusion in the Fashion Transparency Index has motivated major fashion brands to be more transparent. We are seeing many brands publishing their supplier lists and improving their scores year on year,” commented Sarah Ditty, Policy Director and report author.

Amongst the 98 brands reviewed in 2017, 2018 and again in 2019 there has been an 8.9% increase in the average score since they were first included in the Index. Eleven brands have increased their scores by over 10% this year, showing significant efforts to be more transparent, and data shows that more brands are embarking on their journey towards greater transparency.

Meanwhile, Gucci and Bottega Veneta are the highest scoring luxury brands reviewed, making the 31-40% range of scores, and have achieved 100% on policy and commitments and governance. Chanel’s score increased by 7%, Sandro and s. Oliver by 9% and Dior by almost 22%, demonstrating that for the first time ever, several major fashion brands are beginning to disclose supply chain information. Chanel also published its first ever Report to Society and s. Oliver launched a responsibility section on its website for the first time.

Call for more visibility

Only five brands (2.5% of the brands reviewed) scored zero this year, compared with nine brands (6%) last year. These are Eli Tahari, Jessica Simpson, Mexx, Tom Ford and Chinese menswear brand Youngor. Another 10 brands are disclosing almost nothing (less than 2%), including Longchamp, Max Mara, New Yorker and several others.

More brands are publishing their supplier lists. © Fashion Revolution

“There is still a lot of work to be done, detailed information about the outcomes and impacts of their efforts is still lacking,” cautioned Ms Ditty. “The average score amongst the biggest fashion brands and retailers is just 21%, showing that there are still far too many big brands lagging behind. Major brands are disclosing very little information and data about their purchasing practices, which means that we still don’t have visibility into what brands are doing to be responsible business partners to their suppliers.”

Fashion Revolution believes that the major fashion brands have the moral imperative and ability to effect change on a global scale for large numbers of people. Brands will also need to innovate, use fewer resources and help their customers consume less, take better care of their clothes and use them for longer if we are to tackle the climate crisis.

Spotlight issues

To help drive this change, each year the organisation explores a few key issues in deeper detail. This year it has chosen four out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are particularly relevant and urgent for the global fashion industry to achieve by 2030 as this year’s Spotlight Issues:  SDG5: Gender Equality, SDG 8: Decent Work, SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production and SDG 13: Climate Action.

No brands score above the 70% range showing that there is still a long way to go towards transparency amongst all major fashion brands. © Fashion Revolution

The highest scoring brands in the Spotlight Issues section this year are H&M, Adidas and Reebok, Patagonia as well as Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius and Zara (all owned by Inditex), ASOS and C&A, respectively. “We will continue to use the Index to measure brands’ progress and help push them harder and faster towards taking on more responsibility for their policies, practices and impacts,” concluded Ms Ditty.

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