Sustainable Apparel Coalition Announces Return of Manufacturer Forums
Forums provide opportunities for industry stakeholders to drive sustainability improvements throughout global supply chains
SAN FRANCISCO, AMSTERDAM, and HONG KONG, July 13, 2023 /3BL/ - The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), an impact-driven global convener of nearly half of the apparel, footwear, and textile industry, is pleased to announce the return of its Manufacturer Forums, a series of action-oriented events aimed at bringing together business leaders and stakeholders to learn how they can leverage the Higg Index suite of tools and industry programs to drive sustainability improvements throughout global supply chains.
Under the theme, Catalyst for Change, the first Manufacturer Forum will take place in Shenzhen, China on July 25 at Sheraton Shenzhen Futian Hotel and will be the first in-person Manufacturer Forum the SAC has hosted since 2019. The event will feature sessions on policy, supply chain dynamics, decarbonization, standardizing facility data collection, verification, and much more.
The Manufacturer Forum will also offer attendees an opportunity to learn about the SAC and how its member organizations collectively work together to drive improvements in the apparel, footwear, and textile industry. Attendees will learn how to use the Higg Index suite of tools and stay up-to-date on recent tool updates like the FEM 4.0, scheduled to launch later this year, as well as industry programs such as the SAC’s newly launched Decarbonization Program.
Jeremy Lardeau, Vice President, Higg index at the SAC said: “We are honored to be hosting industry stakeholders at our Manufacturer Forum, which will provide attendees an opportunity to learn more about our work at the SAC and how to leverage our Higg index suite of tools to better understand data insights informing their sustainability strategies and how upcoming legislation will impact their operations. As an organization committed to transforming business through groundbreaking tools and collaborative partnerships, we believe through initiatives such as the Manufacturer Forums, we can help solve the industry’s most urgent and systemic challenges.”
Joyce Tsoi, Director of Collective Action Programs at the SAC said: “With time running out for us to reverse the worst impacts of climate change, we cannot afford to waste any more time. We are thrilled to bring together industry stakeholders for our Manufacturer Forum to discuss key issues impacting our industry, connect and share best practices on setting science based targets and the types of decarbonization actions required to reduce climate risk and build climate resilience. Through our Decarbonization Program, we are working collectively to build collective solutions to drive systemic change required in our global supply chains, which no one company can do alone. The Manufacturer Forum presents a great opportunity for us to deepen our collaboration and drive rapid progress at scale.”
As an organization that is deeply committed to collaboration, the SAC’s goal is to catalyze industry collaboration, bringing together individuals and organizations from across the entire value chain to reach shared industry goals. Through its Manufacturer Forums, the SAC aims to bring together driven and passionate professionals for solution-centered discussions to drive social and environmental impacts.
The Manufacturer Forum is open for interested participants to register and join other stakeholders in discussions and networking opportunities on how to accelerate progress to transform the industry.
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About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an independent and impact-creating organization that aims to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability based upon a joint approach for measuring, evaluating, and improving performance.
As a non-profit organization, it has members from across the apparel, footwear, and textile sector, but exists independently outside any one company so that it can drive progress. The SAC’s collective action efforts bring more than 280 global brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, academics, and industry associations together. They represent about half of the apparel and footwear industry along the whole supply chain – from sustainability pioneers to organizations just getting started.
Before the SAC existed, companies worked in a siloed way, using their own programs and measurements that lacked standardization and an ability to drive collective action. In 2009, Walmart and Patagonia identified this as a serious problem. Joining forces, they brought together peers, competitors, and relevant stakeholders from across the sector to, on a pre-competitive basis, develop a universal approach to measuring sustainability performance and founded the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
