Textile Insight

ince its introduction in 2007, the Higg Index has continued to evolve and broaden it reach beyond the outdoor community and softgoods focus. Long gone is the description of the Higg as "that nasty Excel spreadsheet," as execs now view the web-based tool as a valuable driver of corporate sustainability. "I see long term value of the Higg and believe it is the responsibility of the brand to push sus- tainability forward," said Ali Kenny, VP global strategy & insights at Burton. "I believe it should be the nutritional label for customers as well as a way retailers can judge brands and brands can judge facilities. That's the main reason we use it and continue to drive it forward." In 2012 Kenny was tapped for devel- oping Burton's sustainability strategy; company initiatives have expanded over the last five years to the point that now Kenny has a staff of four full-time people in her department. While initially soft- goods oriented, the Higg has proved to be useful when applied to hardgoods. Kenny explained that working with the HIgg Index prompted a new snowboard construction that resulted in significant waste reduction. Danielle Cresswell, sustainability manager, Klean Kanteen also vouched for Higg's usefulness in ushering in a broader, more knowledgeable eco- minded approach to their business practices. "Despite being more weighted to hardgoods, we used it to evaluate how do we weigh materials, processing and transportation in an equipment sort of way." Cresswell and Kenny served as pan- elists at a presentation titled, "The Higg Index: Assessing, Measuring, and Communicating Sustainability in the Supply Chain," hosted by Nikki Hodgson, sustainable business innovation manager, OIA, as part of SIA's Industry + Intelligence seminar series prior to Day 1 of the OR + Snow Show in Denver. Hodgson gave a quick recap of Higg history noting the original motivation was to create a means for all levels of the supply chain to track progress, con- nect with partners and see benchmarks with peers. The industry has been strong when it comes to public lands policy and climate advocacy, explained Hodgson, however, issues associated with manufacturing products needed to be addressed. The Higg is a call to action to "to pay attention to what is in your supply chain," Hodgson added. She also highlighted forward direction. An effort to reach the hardgoods audience is already underway. For example, the Higg Index Brand Module cur- rently under revision is being designed to be "product agnostic," and as such will appeal to gear makers as well as apparel manufacturers, said Hodgson. Charting Action True to its mission that "assessment drives action," data continues to show improvements in supply chain sustainability. For example, in a year over year survey from 2015 to 2016, the Materials sector showed significant improvement in the Brand Environmental Module. "Benchmarking not only provides data concerning what to focus on in the short term, but also provides spotlights opportunity for improvement," said Hodgson. She also noted that currently the topic of creating a consumer-facing label is under discussion. "There's a lot of conversation around what that might look like," said Hodgson. Additionally, OIA is currently updating the Higg Index Brand and Retail Module and will be piloting the beta version at a time yet to be confirmed Another point made was that the Higg is a self-assessment tool and meant for in-house use. "We don't know of any companies sharing their Higg scores," said Hodgson in response to an audience question on the subject. Kenny mentioned how the Higg has been useful in connecting Burton with bluesign-approved mills. "We're finding bluesign mills to be far ahead of non- bluesign facilities," commented Kenny, who added that Burton has a goal that by 2020, 100 percent of Burton softgoods will be bluesign-approved. That's a lot of progress aided by what Kenny initially viewed as "a nasty Excel spreadsheet" when she first turned to Higg Index five years ago. O SUPPLY CHAIN | HIGG INDEX Evaluating Industry Progress in Sustainability Improvement The Higg Turns Ten 32 • Textile Insight ~ March/April 2018 HIGG INDEX STATUS REPORT 126 OIA members 72 Brand modules 850 Facilities

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