Can A Traceable Supply Chain Be Cool?

Are you a fan of Nudie Jeans? Their website is Scandinavian cool, a celebration of their sustainable denim brand that combines great visuals with a strong eco ethos.  Worth admiring is this Swedish brand’s commitment to transparency, down to their textile production sites (Tier 3) for each style they sell on their website.

          How rare is this?

          Very, according to a recent Fashion Revolution report.  In fact out of 62 major brands in the study, Nudie Jeans is the only one to disclose their Tier 3 supply chain partners for every style they currently make. 

          Consumers today are more informed about how supply chains work, and naturally  want to know as much as possible about the garments they’re spending their money on.  Almost one-quarter of them will base a purchase exclusively on a garment’s sustainability.  Aligning with brands that can make a social-environmental impact on their behalf is important to them.  

          These younger, digitally native consumers are highly valued by more and more brands. They are a big part of a trend felt downstream in the supply chain ecosystem, where traceability specialists are required. All the way along the supply chain from factory (Tier 1) down to farm harvest (Tier 4), we’re being tasked with providing certification for partners that are also expected to be strategic and responsible.

          A larger everyday challenge is quickly coming into view: namely remediating an out-of-compliance partner in a typical supply chain scenario.

          VF Corp announced this month that they will disclose Tier 1 through Tier 4 partners, beginning with some of their bestselling styles.  But for small-to-medium size companies with emerging programs, the prospect of this type of information disclosure is daunting.  Certifying an international supply chain as traceable, sustainable, and socially-compliant can take years.  Piled on this is a lack of understanding, and formal support, for different pieces of a supply chain identified as “out-of-compliance” with responsible standards. 

          Often a company without sustainability DNA will assume that a certified Tier 1 factory is all they need to start brand-building via an “organic sustainable” label.  How responsibility for certifying the other supply chain partners, from Tier 2 to Tier 4, works in practice is now a main challenge for many brands old and new.  No single road map exists within our industry for this process, or voluntary remediation across sustainability platforms.

          Brands may not know all their suppliers, trusting that Tier 1 partners use compliant downstream vendors. Traceability becomes a cumbersome process, its expense subject to scrutiny.

          Exacerbated by the pandemic supply chain disruption, in factory zones from Asia to South America, good factories are being cut out of the U.S. market, even though they require only minor remediation to meet compliance.   Long-standing factory relationships are now at risk.  Jobs lost and resources wasted even though solutions are available. 

          Driven by our digital marketplace, activated by a disrupted economy,  more companies than ever before are participating in a transparent sustainable model that is good for business while meeting responsible standards.  Others have an Emerging Program that is just getting started, and under pressure to perform.  Without more support from industry leaders, it’s easier for non-compliant companies to opt out of a sustainable approach. We’ve got to make it easier for them to opt in.

          Nudie Jeans, with their international eco ethos and digital success, is a new star showing how a strong inspirational brand can make supply chain information clear and cool.