What: In a new report, Transformers Foundation claims that suppliers are being sidelined within collective initiatives.

Why it is important: Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives must include supplier engagement to make the process fair and inclusive.

The report found that suppliers face resource constraints that hinder their participation in collective activities. In comparison, the report argues, brands and retailers often have large teams and dedicated finances to engage and have the upper hand in decision-making processes. For suppliers in the Global South in particular, there are cultural biases and logistical hurdles that inhibit their participation — ranging from inconvenient meeting schedules to racism and a lack of diverse representation. In essence, suppliers feel disconnected and burnt out from what the industry has labelled ‘collective processes’. This means they also feel absent from how strategic solutions are developed, which is limiting the entire sector’s sustainability agenda.

The report focused on voluntary multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs), which are central to fashion’s sustainability progress and are usually created to solve complex global challenges, ideally by fostering collaboration. But by sidelining suppliers, change only serves brands and retailers. The authors argue for a fairer process than what the industry has relied on, and outline what that could look like.

Suppliers are still being excluded from fashion’s sustainability decisions