The Most Transparent Fast Fashion And Luxury Brands Are H&M And Gucci.

For the fashion industry, April 22nd is not only the world earth day, but also the fifth fashion revolution week (Fashion Revolution Week). At this time of year, the topic tag of #whomademyclothes (who made my clothes) will be active on social media Twitter, bringing together the participants.

During the fashion revolution week, the sponsor Fashion Revolution followed the usual practice and released the fifth edition of the fashion transparency index, marking and ranking the transparency of 250 fashion companies worldwide. According to the organization's explanation, the so-called "transparency" requires that fashion companies disclose publicly reliable, comprehensive and comparable data information, including, but not limited to, their fashion supply chain and the impact of business activities on workers, communities and the environment.

According to the latest report, the transparency index of fast fashion group H&M rose from 61% last year to 73% this year after becoming the chief executive of Helena Helmersson, the former head of sustainable development business. It became the first fashion brand with a transparency index of more than 70%, ranking first. Germany's fast fashion brand C&A followed by 70% in second place. Adidas (Adidas) and Reebok (Reebok) tied for third, while the Esprit of Si Jie universal brand ranked fourth.

Fashion Revolution has been committed to promoting the development of a more fair, transparent, safe and responsible fashion industry. Its original intention is to commemorate and reflect on the Bangladesh garment factory accident in 2013. This 8 storey garment factory has a huge hidden danger in safety regulation. It finally collapsed in April of that year, killing 1133 people and injuring more than 2500 people. Sarah Ditty, the policy director and the author of the report, stressed that this is not a review of the brand's social morality or sustainability, but rather a measurement of the brand's "transparency". Although the top brands in the report still have problems of overproduction and poor labor treatment, these enterprises have made efforts in information disclosure and transparency.

Pascal Brun, the sustainable brand leader of H&M brand of Haines Maurice group, told BoF earlier that the group will issue sustainability performance reports every year and will develop very challenging KPI: by 2030, the group hopes that 100% of the materials can be purchased in a renewable or more sustainable manner. Fashion Revolution believes that H&M has achieved a high degree of transparency in information exchange by updating data in a timely manner and giving account of measures taken by the company in terms of sustainability and corporate ethical responsibility.

At the same time, the index of transparency, which is more willing to tell about luxury brands of manufacturing, blood generation and craft, is generally behind the fast fashion and high street brands. In the report, the highest luxury brand Gucci transparency index is only 48%, and Ermenegildo Zegna is the only luxury company that provides detailed list of suppliers. The transparency index of brands such as Tom Ford, Bally and Max Mara is 0%, ranking lowest.

The general characteristics of these brands are lack of openness and transparency in the sources of suppliers, environmental burden costs, and remuneration for workers, and consumers are hard to obtain relevant information. Ditty said: "consumers who should not disclose any big brands of operation and supply chain information" should be concerned.

  "Those companies are lagging behind, either because they do not give priority to such problems, or they really do good deeds behind the scenes, but they do not share the information," Ditty added. What the brand is doing produces more trust.

Especially when the new crown pneumonia epidemic has a profound impact on the fashion industry, many systemic and structural problems within the industry are exposed. Brands, suppliers, warehousing and logistics workers and garment workers are facing severe challenges. Safe and stable working environment, responsible delivery of orders, handling of unemployment. These problems remain to be solved more urgently than ever.

Some fast fashion brands assume the responsibility within the limits of their ability. H&M assured their clothing suppliers that they would complete the production and production orders, and would not negotiate the price. Primark, which has closed all 376 stores, promised to order 370 million pounds from suppliers, and plans to complete the delivery by April 17th. But that is far from enough.

Earlier, in our supply chain feature, Sanjeev Bahl, founder of Saitex, a Vietnamese cowboy maker, told BoF: "now is a massacre. The buyer takes the supply chain as a matter of course, and then creates a profound indirect injury. Canaive, the core garment industry in Mexico, estimates that nearly 320 thousand jobs and 8815 companies will face risks due to the outbreak. Bangladesh garment manufacturer and exporter association chairman Rubana Huq said that 4 million 100 thousand Bangladesh workers may lose their jobs.

Fashion Revolution operations director Carry Somers warned that low paid textile workers were the first to bear the brunt of the disaster. Many fashion brands and businesses are shirking their responsibilities and related expenses. The fashion transparency index reported that only 2% of the brands announced the percentage of orders paid to suppliers on time.

"Facing the crisis, the fashion industry should become more responsible. We appeal to brands and retailers to disclose more information about operations, suppliers, ways of buying and salaries, "Somers said.

More transparency will be the key for fashion companies to enhance their sense of responsibility and overcome the unstable crisis.