(San Francisco, CA), August 3, 2016 – To increase access and adoption of a common measurement standard and basis for sustainability improvements within the global apparel, footwear and home textile industries, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition has opened use of the Higg Index to non-member small and medium-sized (SME) brands and retailers. Beginning today, SME companies may take advantage of a special license for full access to the Higg Index at www.higg.org and join the industry-wide approach towards increased supply chain sustainability and transparency.

 

The Higg Index is the Coalition’s suite of tools that provides a common approach for measuring and evaluating supply chain impacts. Important features of Higg Index access include:

• Universal industry standard assessments of a company’s environmental and social/labor sustainability performance
• Ability to connect seamlessly with supply chain and industry peers, driving much needed transparency
• Best practice sharing through training documents, videos and webinars
• Benchmarking of company and supply chain sustainability performance to that of the industry

 

By increasing the number of small and medium-sized companies participating in the Higg Index, the SME Access program will also bolster reporting and impact from a wider spectrum of the supply chain, increasing overall insight and value. “Bringing small and medium-sized enterprises together with our existing users on a single platform to increase inclusion and access to the Higg Index is absolutely critical to establishing a common, global approach to measurement, and a necessary step towards our 2020 commitment of full industry transparency,” said Jason Kibbey, CEO at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. “By providing a special licensing option to smaller brands and retailers, we can present affordable access to tools that unlock greater sustainability measurement and improvement in further tiers of the value chain,” he said.

 

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition developed the Higg Index 1.0 in 2012 in order for brand companies, retailers, and manufacturers to share a platform of sustainability measurement and consolidate results into one common tool. The SAC released Higg 2.0 in November 2013 to its members and non-member manufacturers to include more enhanced content and further enable the industry to scale the use of the index through a web-based tool. As of July 1st, 13,427 Higg Index assessments have been posted by 6,319 companies to empower brands, retailers, and facilities to measure their environmental and social and labor impacts for a holistic overview of sustainability in the industry.