This week: Andreas Streubig from Hugo Boss discusses how pre-competitive collaboration can work to counter fragmentation in the apparel sector, and Ethical Trading Initiative’s Peter McAllister outlines evolving trends in business modern slavery risks and what companies have to do to keep up.

Plus: Future of Food report from Sainsbury’s; impacts of new plastic waste exporting rules; slower progress in apparel sector exposed; and, H&M and Walmart accused of supplier labour breaches in Ethiopia.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Yves Nissim, vice-president and head of transformation and operations in CSR for Orange, discusses with Ian Welsh the benefits for the company and its 77,000 tier-one suppliers of cooperating with other telecoms companies to share auditing results. Nissim highlights the leverage that companies working together have with shared suppliers to tackle labour issues in particular. He argues that auditing should not be a tool to punish, but rather to help suppliers improve business practices. 

Cherie Tan, vice-president for communications and sustainability at Asia Pacific Rayon, talks with Innovation Forum's Toby Webb about the challenges inherent in developing a sustainable viscose supply chain. Tan explains how APR uses blockchain technology to trace raw materials back to source and how companies can actually deliver on their sustainability pledges – with accountability and transparency essential elements.

Jaya Chakrabarti, founder of TISC Report, talks with Ian Welsh about her work analysing data on corporate compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act. She explains the clear correlation between those companies – with retailers leading the way – that take modern slavery transparency seriously, and publicly provide reassurance to their customers and stakeholders, and the development of best practice in general. They also discuss the spectrum of engagement and why some sectors perform better than others.

This week: Tensie Whelan, former Rainforest Alliance president and now professor at Stern School of Business in New York, and Toby Webb debate what companies should do to embed sustainability in corporate culture, and the real business-benefits that result. Plus: biodiversity-loss risks, Selfridges and palm oil, climate risk reporting, and new commitments from Mondelez and Coca-Cola.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Eric Roosen, owner of Star Sock, explains to Toby Webb how ocean waste can be regenerated into yarns for making socks. With a business selling over 25 million socks a year, Roosen outlines how the company’s exclusive Econyl yarn is made from recycling old fishing nets, and then used as part of the fibre mix in StarSock’s range of products. He also argues the case for better collaboration – pointing out how his own business could only develop once it had established effective links within both the waste industry and yarn spinning sector.

This week: François-Ghislain Morillion, co-founder of sustainable sneakers brand Veja on innovation in sourcing to find the right materials for the company’s products. And Sebastian Siegele, managing director, Sustainability Agents, on how to develop best practice in supplier factories.

Plus: climate impacts on food supply, deforestation rates, enzyme-based plastic recycling, and H+M’s new garment supplier transparency, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Alison Ward CEO of CottonConnect and Ian Welsh discuss the benefits of transparency in helping monitor corporate impacts in apparel supply chains. Ward also highlights how better story-telling in communications with consumers leads to more engagement and points out the benefits of actually introducing a brand board director to the company’s supplier-farmers.

Anna Turrell, head of sustainability for UK and Ireland at Nestlé, talks with Ian Welsh about the challenges in tackling modern slavery issues, and why the business’s first step was to align, as far as possible, with the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. They discuss why different supply chains, including palm oil and cocoa, can require very specific approaches – and that a holistic approach encompassing environmental and social goals is typically what works best.

Turrell also outlines what Nestlé is doing to develop better packaging, reducing plastic use where feasible while working to encourage the sort of sector-wide innovation necessary to radically increase reuse and recycling rates.

This week: Sabine Schlorke, global manufacturing manager at the International Finance Corporation, talks about how the IFC works with big apparel sector brands in Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries providing their suppliers with access to development finance.

And, Mark Blick, head of government solutions at Diginex, explains how blockchain can help brands identify where their modern slavery and forced labour risks are – following the relevant data points and ensuring transparency.

Plus: Walmart and green finance, Yum!’s science-based targets, and Adidas’s new single base-material trainer, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh