Under Cloud

Management consultancy KPMG, which was tasked with reviewing the Higg Index suite of tools for the textiles and fashion industry, has recommended integrating the controversial Higg MSI with the Higg PM and focusing on enhancing data quality.

The third-party expert review of the Higg MSI data and methodology, that came under fire last year, is expected this June, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has announced.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has issued a statement in response to the guidance issued by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and the Norwegian Consumer Authority (NCA) on usage of the Higg MSI tool in making sustainability claims.

A joint crackdown by consumer authorities in the Netherlands and Norway on the use of Higg MSI is critical for the entire clothing industry, both for developers and providers of data instruments as well as for clothing companies that use these types of instruments.

Clothing retail chain H&M and sporting goods retail chain Decathlon have made commitments to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) promising to adjust or no longer use sustainability claims on their clothes and/or websites. The two chains have committed to informing consumers more clearly in order to minimise the risk of misleading practices involving sustainability claims.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), in the dock over the use of its Higg MSI tool, has paused the 'transparency' tool across the world. The decision comes almost two weeks after the Norwegian Consumer Agency (Forbrukertilsynet) ruled that the Higg MSI tool is not sufficient as a basis for the environmental claims that outdoor brand Norrøna and fast fashion giant H&M were using in marketing themselves and their products.

The beleaguered Higg MSI by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition has come under fire yet again as the Natural Fibers Alliance calls for its immediate suspension. A texfash.com report.

In a big blow for the Higg MSI tool, Norway has ruled that the former is not sufficient as a basis for the environmental claims that fast fashion retailer H&M and outdoor brand Norrona have used in marketing themselves and their products, and asked the two entities to change or remove the relevant marketing using the Higg MSI from their product pages within the stipulated time.

The Big Daddies in the textiles-apparel-footwear-fashion ecosystem are the hands behind some of the most followed sustainability benchmarks. The charge is that they have been using the cloak of opaqueness and secrecy and also the lack of credible data to greenwash themselves. texfash.com recaps the brouhaha.