Fashion brands and retailers have made little progress over the past year in disclosing their production conditions and sustainability efforts, according to the latest Fashion Transparency Index from the non-profit organization Fashion Revolution.
Now in its seventh edition, the index ranks 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers based on their public disclosures of human rights and environmental policies, practices and impacts in their operations and supply chains. The average overall rating of the brands was only 24 percent – just one percent more than last year.
A third of the labels examined achieved less than ten percent, including Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino. Of these, 17 major brands were rated zero percent, including designer brands such as Jil Sander, Max Mara and Tom Ford, but also fast fashion retailers such as Fashion Nova, Shein and New Yorker.
Three brands shared first place, each with a rating of 78 percent: Italian retailer OVS, along with retail giants Target Australia and Kmart Australia. The biggest movers this year are the Calzedonia Group brands, which saw their score rise to 54 percent, a significant improvement from last year’s 11 percent.
Brands and retailers’ published information tends to focus on their engagement and actions on human rights and environmental issues, but far less on the results, outcomes and impact of their efforts, according to Fashion Revolution. “The Fashion Transparency Index does not aim to rank brands that are considered sustainable; it is not a shopping guide,” said Delphine Williot, policy and research coordinator, at the index’s press launch in London on Wednesday. “If a brand performs very well on the index, that doesn’t mean it’s sustainable, just that it’s transparent and we can hold it accountable.”
Concealment in overproduction and social injustice
85 percent of brands do not disclose their annual production volumes, despite increasing pressure to reduce clothing waste around the world. “Brands know exactly how much they produce, because no company is sustainable if it doesn’t know what it produces. So it’s clear they choose not to disclose this information in order to obscure the effects of overproduction and overconsumption,” said Liv Simpliciano, Head of Policy and Research at Fashion Revolution.
Almost half of the brands surveyed also publish sustainable material goals, yet only 37 percent of them state what really constitutes a sustainable material.
Most big brands and retailers also prefer to keep a low profile when it comes to social justice: 96 percent of them do not disclose the number of workers in their supply chain who are paid a living wage, and only 27 percent disclose how they set living wages for their workers want to reach their employees.
Many brands use their communication channels to talk about social justice. Brand engagement must go beyond lip service, however, demands Fashion Revolution. Only 8 percent of brands actually publish racial equality policies in their supply chains, according to the index’s findings.
In response to the startling numbers, the organization launched the Good Clothes, Fair Pay campaign, which advocates for living wage legislation in the clothing, textile and footwear industries. On the goodclothefajrpay.eu website, Fashion Revolution wants to collect one million signatures from EU citizens.
Intransparency as a conscious strategy to consolidate the status quo
The fashion industry urgently needs to increase transparency to fight the climate crisis and social inequality, the report says. More transparency about brands’ supply chains should be a first step to eliminate harmful practices and promote fair labor relations.
“It’s frustrating to see brands’ continued lack of transparency on critical issues such as waste volume, carbon and water footprint, and paying workers a living wage,” Simpliciano said.
“If there is a lack of transparency on the matter itself, we cannot reasonably understand whether what is being done is robust enough to drive much-needed change. Transparency empowers civil society and employee representation, and unless brands disclose all the information necessary to hold them accountable for their impact, lack of transparency seems like a deliberate strategy to perpetuate the status quo.”