Individual Progress in the Fashion Industry Is Undermined by Wider Inaction

(Credit: The Business of Fashion)

The world’s biggest fashion businesses are lagging in their efforts to achieve sustainable business practices, new data from The Business of Fashion (BoF) reveals. The BoF Sustainability Index 2022 finds that incremental progress among a handful of larger players assessed last year is eclipsed by wider industry inaction, as the time left for fashion to curb its impact by 2030 – a milestone for global sustainability goals – runs short. 

The BoF Sustainability Index benchmarks the industry’s progress towards environmental and social targets for the end of the decade. In its second edition, the Index examines the performance of the industry’s 30 largest publicly listed companies by revenue across three market segments: luxury, sportswear, and high street. More than 200 different data points were used to assess each company across six different impact categories: Transparency, Emissions, Water & Chemicals, Waste, Materials and Workers’ Rights.

With just eight years left to reach targets, the results are stark, according to the BoF: performance in almost every impact category has worsened as incremental progress among the original cohort of 15 companies assessed last year was eclipsed by inaction across many of the new additions.  

None of the companies achieve an overall score of more than 49 points out of 100, pointing to the gap that still remains between public commitments to operate more responsibly and measurable actions to change behavior. The average overall score across all companies is just 28 points out of 100. While the average score of the original cohort has increased from 31 points to 36 points, the average score for the new additions is just 20 points. 

As a result, overall performance in every impact category except emissions has worsened in the 2022 Index compared to the 2021 edition.

Companies demonstrate the most progress in Emissions, though the overall average score for the category is still just 38 points. It is the only impact category where this score increased compared to the 2021 Index, despite the addition of 15 new companies. Transparency is the cornerstone of the Index, allowing the fashion industry to identify issues and strategize on how to address them.

Companies earned an average of just 35 points overall in this category, with only nine companies scoring 50 or above. Progress on Water & Chemicals has stalled, with the companies achieving an average score of 26 points and little sign of movement among the 15 companies assessed in 2021. The overall score of 25 in Materials reflects the fact that widespread adoption of materials certified to have a lesser impact than conventional alternatives has yet to shift towards more ambitious efforts to overhaul raw materials supply chains. Waste remains the worst-performing category in the Index, with companies achieving an average score of 19.

Recent improvements companies have been making in the industry includes textile company Evrnu launching what it says is the world’s first high performance, recyclable lyocell material made entirely from cotton textile waste, and apparel company Kontoor Brands, maker of Lee and Wrangler denim, detailing its progress and plans for water conservation and sustainable cotton, among other environmental measures.