The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has shared in full the first of three reports from the Higg Index Review. This first report carries on a promise made by the SAC last year to involve business professionals in a technical review of the Higg Product Tools based on content and methodology, with the resulting data being presented in an open and transparent manner. The paper outlines specific suggestions for how the Product Tools may continue to advance and address consumers’ changing needs.
The goal is to give users access to the most current, reliable data versus pertinent industry standards through the ongoing growth of the Higg Index tools in order to promote sustainable decision-making throughout the sector.
The report focuses on the following tools:
- The Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI) is the apparel industry’s most used tool to measure the environmental impacts of materials. It is a cradle-to-gate material assessment tool used by designers to help them make more informed and responsible choices around materials.
- The Higg Product Module (PM) was launched in June 2021 to help organizations evaluate the full environmental impact of a product. It measures the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of a product from the point of resource extraction to manufacturing impacts, all the way through product durability, care, and end of use. With a complete picture of a product’s footprint, designers and sustainability teams can find new opportunities to reduce impact – and accurately demonstrate improvement to stakeholders, and business partners.
“The SAC is committed to the continued enhancement of the Higg Index tools, to better support the industry to achieve its sustainability goals,” said Jeremy Lardeau, VP of the SAC Higg Index.
“The SAC Board of Directors thanks each expert involved in the review for providing their insights and direction to the SAC,” said the SAC’s Board of Directors in a collective statement.
The SAC will take into account suggestions for enhancements during the subsequent stage of tool development, for example, by adding signals and warnings to the platform’s front-end content and by providing more training sessions and educational opportunities to assist users in correctly and more effectively using the tools.
Finally, in order to validate both applicability and feasibility, implementing some of the expert recommendations will necessitate a more thorough process of stakeholder participation and study. For instance, the SAC is keeping a close eye on the advancements achieved in techniques for determining the full consequences of marine litter and microplastics in LCA data.
The remaining Higg Index Review reports for the Higg Brand and Retail Module (BRM) and the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) are expected in 2024. The Higg BRM was recently updated in March 2023, and the Higg FEM tool will be updated in November 2023.
