The search for fashion supply chain transparency
How can brands and retailers overcome traceability challenges to map exactly where their raw materials are coming from?
The fashion industry s notoriously long, fragmented and opaque supply chains can conceal human rights and environmental abuses. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 was introduced to try to make companies responsible for ensuring their supply chains were free from exploitation, but it was not until last month that the government announced financial penalties for those that fail to comply (box below).
The government s action follows a December BBC exposé of the forced labour of Uyghur Muslim people in the cotton industry in the Xinjiang region of western China. Several UK retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Next, and Tesco, banned the use of raw cotton from Xinjiang as a result.
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Fashion for Good launches Viscose Traceability Project
Fashion for Good in December launched its Viscose Traceability Project. Facilitated by Fashion for Good, the Project is a collaboration with brands BestSeller and Kering who will provide eight garment styles to be traced for the pilot, with fibres sourced from three leading sustainable viscose producers. TextileGenesis will design traceability applications for use across the value chain. It will provide its blockchain solution and platform to trace the origins of the viscose used in the garments along the supply chains of the two brands. These chains span eight countries to reflect the real-world complexities and supply-chain scenarios to test the flexibility and scalability of the platform.