The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), a leading association for apparel, footwear and the textile industry introduced two Higg Facility Modules in a bid to enhance the supply chain transparency.
Notably, the updated platform features a new Higg Facility Social & Labour Module (Higg FSLM) and a refurbished, Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM); both measuring conditions on factory floors where the majority of the global apparel manufacturing takes place.
It is pertinent to add here that for the first time, The SAC has made Higg FEM and Higg FSLM available for factories online, so that they can evaluate their sustainability performance.
Jason Kibbey, CEO, SAC cited that the company has made the functionality of Higg.org more efficient to offer Higg Index customers better navigation as they complete the Higg Facility Modules. “They can share information more easily with supply chain partners now and we hope this will inspire more of the industry to complete Higg assessments and support value chain transparency,” Jason said.
While the Higg FEM calculates various factors in a supply chain ranging from green gas emission, water waste, chemical use and others to measure factories’ environmental management systems, the Higg FSLM offers industry’s first standardized self-assessment for evaluating factories’ social and labour performance.
Two of the leading apparel labels H&M and Asos were appreciative of the Higg Index’s commitment towards the whole industry. Anna Gedda, Head of Sustainability, H&M Group said that the Sweden-based fashion retailer was the first brand to roll out Higg FEM at 100 percent in its Tier I and strategic tier II suppliers.
“Now we look forward to more brands committing to roll out the Higg tools full-scale. Only then can we together achieve comparability across the industry, which in turn is key to empower informed choices through transparency.”
Furthermore, the SAC formed the Higg FSLM to measure recruitment and hiring practices, working hours, wages and benefits, employee health and safety, and community engagement, and other areas in the supply chain.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
