Will empowering consumers to shop differently really drive fashion’s transformation?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the controversy surrounding the Higg Material Sustainability Index. It’s taken me some time to put together my thoughts, and I’m not sure I’m totally there yet. But here it goes…

What do two manufacturers, one brand, and one ex-social compliance auditor think: do social compliance audits make factories better places to work? What’s the intention behind social audits? Are audits about assurance? Or should they be a tool for collaboration and conversation? Or both?

Is visibility a sensible way of approaching wellbeing in fashion supply chains? Is the fact that subcontractors are invisible really what causes adverse human rights outcomes? Or are adverse human rights outcomes in fashion supply chains a symptom of how we distribute financial risk?

We can’t talk about wellbeing on the production floor without also talking about factory management. What drives the behavior of factory management? What are their incentives? And how does this translate on the production floor?

Dr. Divya Jyoti and Dr. Achyuta Adhvaryu debate: how should worker wellbeing be defined and measured?

This is part two of a conversation with Marzia Lanfranchi and Elizabeth Cline, co-authors of the new report: Cotton: A Case Study in Misinformation. The chat is co-hosted by Sarah Mock.

This is part one of a conversation with Marzia Lanfranchi and Elizabeth Cline, co-authors of the new report: Cotton: A Case Study in Misinformation. The chat is co-hosted by Sarah Mock.

This is part two of an episode that brings together people from opposite ends of the fashion supply chain – two suppliers and an impact investment strategist.