Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

François-Ghislain Morillion, co-founder of trainer brand Veja, explains to Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh how the business has developed short and sustainable supply chains for materials in its shoes, which now includes recycled polyester from plastic bottles.

They debate the challenges in finding new source materials that are truly sustainable, and the design pitfalls around product development. After all, consumers will only buy products that work properly and look good.

Sebastian Siegele, managing director of Sustainability Agents (SUSA), discusses with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh how to improve factory conditions in the apparel sector by developing best practice examples that demonstrate clearly the economic and productivity benefits from getting beyond social compliance.

He argues for redirecting of resources from endless social auditing to demonstrating to factory management that there are upsides for all from better working practices.

This week: Antonio Brunori, secretary-general of PEFC Italy, explains to Ian Welsh how the Forests for Fashion initiative helps fashion brands develop transparency in their pulp-based fibre supply chains. And Mark Everard, ecosystems services expert and associate professor at the University of the West of England, explains PVC’s sustainable future to Toby Webb.

Plus, in the news digest: CDP’s cities ranking, UK government’s suppliers and modern slavery progress, and has Unilever solved the black plastic recycling problem?

Hosted by Ian Welsh

David Schilling, senior programme director at the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility, discusses with Ian Welsh the challenges for apparel sector businesses that remain six years on from the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh.

Schilling explains why the Bangladesh government is keen to move on from the company-led Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety that developed after the disaster, and outlines his concerns for the next steps. They debate how brands can use their leverage to ensure the progress made over the past six years continues to be built on, and how the investment community is changing its approach to labour issues.

Listeners should note that on 19^th May, after this interview was recorded, the Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court accepted an agreement reached by the Accord and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and supported by the government to allow the Accord to operate for another year as a transition to the establishment of a Ready Made Garment (RMG) Sustainability Council which will include global brands, trade unions and the BGMEA. Click here for a statement from the Accord.

Sabine Schlorke, global manufacturing manager at the International Finance Corporation talks with Ian Welsh about how IFC works with big apparel sector brands in Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries providing their suppliers with access to development finance via the PaCT (Partnership for Cleaner Textiles) programme.

She argues that the opportunities for resource efficiencies and improvements that benefit all in the value chain are significant, particularly when supplier factories can clearly see how access to finance can help.

 

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

Consumers and business customers increasingly expect transparency and point of recruitment remains a key point of labour-violation risk. Workers moving from country of origin to place of work are still paying recruitment fees running into thousands of dollars – it is crucial that workers can have verifiable copies of their contracts that they know are correct and that can be shown to be the same as the copy that is presented to auditors. A blockchain, with transparent ledger technology, can help.

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.